1st Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption
by Cptdave
Summary: A unit destroyed, its commander disgraced, a Clan to defeat.  Only one chance stands at redemption and vindication.  The creation of the Wild Horses.  A unit to be the elite of the Royal Army, the best Mechwarriors and fighters ever to exist in Manticore.
1. Prologue

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not personally own Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, Tenchi Muyo, BattleTech, nor the Star Kingdom of Manticore. All these wonderful works are the ownership of other people. I'm just borrowing them for a short time to write this little story, and I bow to the greatnesses that wrote these wonderful things. I'm a poor and humble warrior who loves to write about things he enjoys.

More than a thousand years from now, mankind will have settled the stars. With the invention of the K-F Jump Drive, mankind was able to cross the great void between the stars in mere moments, rather than the decades that it took previously.

As mankind spread out they formed great stellar nations. These nations eventually became known as the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere. Together these nations formed the Star League.

Then a new war machine was created, the battlemech. Standing up to 15 meters in height and weighing as much as 100 tons, these new weapons became the new king of the battlefield.

Mankind embraced these new weapons, and more traditional things, like infantry and armor, fell to the wayside as nations strove to build up their 'mech forces. The pilots of these new war machines, called 'mech warriors, became the new elite branch of the military.

Then _IT_ happened. Old hatreds, that were thought to have been forgiven many centuries before, sprang up even stronger than ever. Combined with greed and corruption, wars broke out, as mankind practiced its most ancient of arts.

Soon the minor border skirmishes between the member-states escalated. Terra was taken over after the assassination of Lord Cameron, the leader of the Star League, marking the beginning of a long and bloody civil war.

After many years of fighting many bloody battles, billions were dead and a half a dozen worlds were nothing more than irradiated balls of rock. With Terra restored to its ownership as an independent planet, the Great Houses started to argue over who would be the next leader of the Star League.

The known universe once again fell to war as no one could agree. General Kerensky, the leader of what remained of the Star League military, became disgusted with the attitudes and beliefs of the Great Houses. He gathered together ninety percent of his forces, their dependents and civilian support structure, and left the Inner Sphere, vowing that his people would one day return, either to aid a new Star League, or to rebuild it themselves if need be.

What was not recorded in history, but actually lost when the only computer core that had the knowledge was destroyed in battle, was that at the same time as General Kerensky was leaving, a scientific colony left as well. Named Project Manticore, they left to conduct top secret studies for the Star League military and were to report their findings to a single computer core.

After settling on the third planet of the alpha component of a binary star system, they settled into working. Having made several ground breaking discoveries within the first five years of the colony's existence; they sent their reports to their masters. After another two years of no replies, a small expeditionary force of two vessels embarked to discover what had happened to the Star League.

Upon their arrival in the Inner Sphere, they discovered their former home to be engulfed in war. A war that would become known as The First Succession War. The commander of the expedition decided to return home with this knowledge, rather than to notify one of the nations of the colony's existence and skills. He felt it best to stay hidden and to reappear to aid the Inner Sphere should they need it at a later date if things became truly dire.

When they returned home, the colonial leaders agreed with the commander's decision and decided that they were truly on their own. The colony, well versed in Terran history, modeled their new government after the old British government.

Since the formation of the Star Kingdom of Manticore, they have grown much larger. They now encompass five systems and seven inhabited planets.

Then, in the year 3045, the Clans came. Clan Ghost Bear took over the planet Mersedas at a great cost to their touman. The Royal Army was able to evacuate with minimal losses to the division stationed on Mersedas. One lone squadron covered the retreat. Leaving their injured and dead behind as they fell back. The commander, Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome, was condemned, despite his best efforts and the successful retreat of the division.

This story is about his redemption. This story is about his unit, its people, and his commander. This story is about their struggles, and battles against the best the Clans and the Inner Sphere have to offer. This story is about war, peace, death, life, hatred, love, wealth and power. This story is about the 101st Assault Division of the Royal Manticoran Army, the Screaming Eagles. This story is about the 1st Battalion, 1st Dragoons Regiment, the Wild Horses.

NOTES: So there it is. My delving into the realms of BattleTech and Honor Harrington. Two of my favorite things really. Hope you like it a lot. Comments are always welcome, flames though will be used to keep terrorists away from the important areas of the International Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. Thanks again fore reading.

P.S.: Yeah I know I haven't put anything out in a while, and this isn't in any of the other two stories that I've been working on, but between moving the wife to Texas, training for a new deployment, which I'm on at the time of this posting, and buying my very first home, I really haven't had the time that I would have loved to have in order to truly write on those stories. And to top it all off, I don't have the files I need out here in order to write more. I deeply apologize to those who are awaiting further chapters of Flux Corps or Anything Goes Air Piracy. As soon as my muse allows me to, I will write more and post it, I promise. Until then, please be patient and understand that my muse is very temperamental, and I must spend a lot of time with her in order to appease her.

CptDave


	2. Chapter 1

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Chapter 1

The Crime

Disclaimer: see prologue please!

AN: Well here's chapter two. For those of you who reviewed the prologue, many many thanks!! I hope to live up to your expectations or to even exceed them.

Location: Mike's Bar, Capital City, Planet ManticoreTime: 2134 hours Local

The bar was like many of its kind in this part of the city. The place was dimly lit, full of smoke and the smell of cheap beer. Salary workers and factory workers sat huddled in groups, griping about being broke, or about their bosses or their wives. And like any normal Friday evening, the bar was filled once more to capacity. Well almost filled, for in one corner there appeared to be a bubble of empty tables around on occupied table.

At this lone table sat four people nursing their drinks. A tall Asian man with short black hair, a build like a gymnast and grey-blue eyes. A shorter Asian man with longer brown hair tied in a pony tail, and brown eyes. A tall English looking woman with a figure to die for; long brown hair that flowed freely and sad looking big green eyes. The last was a stocky man of African stock whose muscles looked like they had muscles, his straight black hair was kept military short and his dark brown eyes flitted everywhere. These four people radiated depression and anger so strongly that only the barmaid and bartender even dared to approach them. All four wore the same clothes, the dark green formal uniform of the Royal Manticoran Army. The berets that were the uniform's head gear were thrown haphazardly onto the table, rather than tucked under the epaulette on their left shoulder as regulation demanded.

All could recognize the unit insignia on their shoulders. The news had done its usual wonderful job of letting the whole nation know about how badly the military had messed up. In this case it was the complete destruction of one of the Army's best units, the Ninth Squadron of the Ninth Cavalry Regiment. And was this unit lost in glorious victory against an enemy?

Oh no!! It was lost during a retreat! A retreat that resulted in the capture of one of the Kingdom's planets no less!! And, according to the media, all the blame could be laid on one man. Lt. Colonel Ranma Saotome should have fought harder, been smarter, and should have died with his men. At least that is what the media says.

So in this quiet little bar, near the Royal Army Academy, in the far corner table, sat the last remnants of the 9-9 Cav. They had good reason for being angry and depressed. All four were told that they would be tried before a military court for their actions on Mersedas. The anger was all directed at their former division commander, who was also the one pressing the charges against them.

"What are we going to do Sir?" Asked the dark skinned man, who wore Sergeants stripes, and was the only enlisted person seated at the table. "As far as I can see it, we're screwed!"

The taller Asian man, who bore Lt. Colonel rank, leaned back, running his hand through his short hair, remembering easier times when it was longer, and he was a kid with three fiancées. "I don't know Angus. But I ain't giving up! You know my motto. Wild Horses never loose and never give up." He replied as he leaned back forward to drink his beer.

The woman of the table, one of two wearing captain rank, snorted in amusement. "When it comes down to it we've never lost a battle yet, ne Ranma?" She asked as she downed her beer in one gulp.

Her companion across the table nodded in agreement as he sipped his beer. "Yeah, but we've sure gotten the shite kicked out of us this time Makoto." He commented grimly.

"Heh, you're both right Tenchi." Ranma commented as he stared down at the table, deep in thought. "But we'll figure something out."

Angus took in his commander's posture and expression before he banged his fist hard on the table, causing everyone in the bar to jump. "Bartender, a bottle of tequila and four shot glasses!" He bellowed.

The man behind the bar, an older gentleman whose graying hair marked him as a first generation prolong recipient, smiled as he grabbed the requested items. "You're lucky my shipment came in today Angus or you'd be out of luck tonight." He said as he brought them their items.

Ranma shook his head, while Tenchi smirked as Angus poured the shots. Makoto stared wide-eyed at the amber liquor in the tiny glass in front of her, remembering the _last_ time she had it.

"Oh no! I ain't having that shit again Angus!" She said as she waved her hands in front of her frantically.

All the men suddenly grinned up at her. "What's wrong Mako-chan? Afraid you can't handle it?" Tenchi teased her.

"Oh no, I ain't falling for that one Tenchi. I remember what happened the last time I had that stuff and I don't want a repeat!" She countered darkly.

Angus broke out into a huge grin. "I'd thought you would have loved to get a repeat performance Ma'am. Lord knows your two friends did!" He said cheerfully.

"Angus……" Makoto snarled as she rounded on him, her fists clenched in anger.

"Mako, take the shot, I'll walk you home tonight." Ranma told her as he glared at Angus.

"Thanks Ranma, I'll hold you to that promise." She replied, calming down as she reached for the shot, more comfortable now, knowing that her boss would see her home safely.

The men nodded as they too grabbed their shots and together the four of them raised the little glasses.

"To our fallen comrades." Ranma intoned solemnly.

"To the fallen." The others replied as together they downed their shots.

Angus continued the ritual by refilling their shot glasses before they were raised again. This time Tenchi spoke. "To those we left behind." He said sadly.

"To the ones we left." Came the somber reply as more of the golden liquor was poured down their throats.

A third time Angus poured the shots before Makoto continued with the ceremony as she raised hers. "To love lost because of our jobs." She said with a sad smile as she remembered her last boyfriend.

"To love lost." The men agreed as they drank and remembered their own lost loves.

Angus poured a final time before he set the bottle down and raised his glass. "To a friendship that will never die." He said as formally as the others, but with a light smile.

"To our friendship." They cried as one as they drank, then they slammed their glasses onto the table in a final toast to all.

All four were understandably surprised then when a fifth shot glass was put down between Tenchi and Angus. They all looked up to see an older man. His short brown hair just starting to go grey, his hazel colored eyes clouded a dark grey with sadness. His tall frame was muscular and lean from years of working out. As he pulled up a chair and sat down they all noticed how silent and graceful he was.

"Mind sharing a drink or three with an old vet?" He asked in a kind voice.

Angus looked over at Ranma to see him nod in agreement. Angus shrugged and poured him a shot. The old man nodded and downed his shot before holding it out for a refill. He drank until he matched the rest of the group before he waved to Angus to fill everyone's glass.

"Powerful toasts friends. Ones I myself gave when I was your age. But you have forgotten one toast." He said with a small smile as he raised his now filled glass. "Ladies and gentlemen, to the Queen, long may she reign." He said with deep respect.

"To the Queen." Came the proper reply as they all drank.

Ranma gazed at the older man speculatively. "So, what brings you to our dark corner tonight old man?" Ranma asked him bluntly.

"Yeah, I figured we'd be putting off enough of an aura to be left alone." Tenchi chimed in.

The old man smiled gently at them all as he settled in like he was planning on staying for a time.

"I have nothing to fear from you four." He said with a light smile, while his hosts seemed a bit upset at being dismissed as unworthy of being afraid of.

"Let me see if I can place names with your faces." He said as he looked thoughtfully at them.

He first looked at Ranma, looking him up and down, making Ranma feel a bit like when his pops used to do the same to him. "Hmm, short hair, storm blue eyes, you must be Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome, former commander of the 9th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment. Currently you are charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy, failure to obey a lawful order, insubordination, striking a superior officer, and incompetence." Ranma's expression darkened dangerously at the older mans words.

His gaze then moved to Tenchi, giving him the same piercing stare as he did Ranma. Tenchi stiffened slightly, his hand moving towards his hip as if reaching for a sword or knife. "Hmmm, long hair pulled back in a tail, wiry frame, sharp eyes, you must be Captain Tenchi Misaki, former commander of Alpha Troop 9/9 Cav. Currently charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy, insubordination, failure to obey a lawful order and incompetence." Tenchi glared as his hand touched his hip right where a sword or knife would lay, his fingers grasping around a non-existent hilt.

His eyes moved over to Makoto as he looked at her carefully, his expression one of sadness as Makoto winced at his gaze. "Long flowing brown hair, lovely figure, striking green eyes, you must be Captain Makoto Kino, former commander of Bravo Troop 9/9 Cav. Currently charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy, insubordination, failure to obey a lawful order, incompetence, fraternization with lower enlisted, sexual harassment, and striking a senior officer." Makoto's expression fell even further as she looked ready to cry again from his words, something that had been all too easy to do in the past two weeks since their return from Mersedas.

His gaze finally landed on Angus, who looked ready to commit murder for the things he was saying about his friends. "That means that you must be Sergeant Angus McRory, former infantry squad leader from Echo Troop 9/9 Cav. Currently charged with cowardice in the face of the enemy, insubordination, incompetence, striking a senior officer, attempted murder and fraternization with an officer."

Angus couldn't contain himself, nor his anger, any longer as he jumped to his feet. His right hand flashed down to his belt where he drew a ten inch long fighting knife, and then stabbed said knife into the table between him and the old man, anger flashing in his eyes.

"You got about five seconds to start explaining yourself old man, or me and the old girl here get to know your innards real well." Angus snarled as his knuckles whitened around the hilt of his knife.

The older man looked up at Angus, and then to the others before he nodded. "True, I do believe I owe you an explanation. It's simple really." He said nonchalantly as he leaned back away from the table, looking relaxed but ready for action. "I'm the one who could make all those nasty little chargers that I just mentioned you all having, just disappear as if they never existed." He looked at them all with a wide grin on his face before he started to laugh, great belly shaking laughter, at their stunned expressions.

TBC

End notes: Don't you just love cliffhangers? Well the stage is set! Our intrepid heroes are in hot water already!! For those of you who don't know, little tidbit of info. Cowardice in the face of the enemy is a very serious charge within the military. The max penalty for a crime like that is death. Also, if anyone wants to know how things are arranged (aka what a unit organization table looks like) for the Royal Army, I will gladly either email it to you or post it later as part of the story. I plan on eventually posting the unit roster for the Wild Horses, I just need to get access to all my BattleTech books in order to do that properly.

Until next chapter

Captain Dave


	3. Chapter 2

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Chapter 2

The Deal

Disclaimer: Please see the prologue

AN: Here is another chapter folks. More confusion, more cursing, more intrigue.

**Nysk**: As you have asked, here is more!

**Tama Saga**: Thanks, but a heads up, there will be romance eventually, after all it wouldn't be a Ranma fanfic without a little bit of romance in there somewhere.

**Jerry Unipeg**: Thanks for the review. Well you'll find out the answer real soon. grins but it isn't quite what you think.

Now then on with the story!!

Location

Mike's Bar, Capitol City, Planet Manticore

Time

2300 local

Date

13th Day, 5th Month 3045 Terran Year

The four stood there in stunned shock while the older man was laughing. Ranma and Tenchi just blinked at him owlishly, not expecting that kind of explanation from him. Makoto hiccupped and just stared, her oncoming sobs broken by the unexpected words. Angus stood there, eyes wide, mouth agape, his knife hand slackening in his shock.

True to their combat reflexes and training, they quickly shook of the shock and recovered what wits they had with them all being quite drunk by this point in time. Makoto started to look even more depressed as she watched him laugh. Ranma and Tenchi kept silent, but narrowed their eyes as they thought that a joke had just been played on them, their auras starting to emit a soft red as anger crept out slowly. Angus noticed Makoto's expression and his eyes narrowed in anger as his hand retightened on his knife's hilt as he glared at the old man, his teeth starting to grind.

"Bull shit." Angus snarled. "I hope you enjoyed your last laugh old man because I'm going to eviscerate you for that joke! Nobody can make these charges just disappear like they never existed!!"

"Angus is right, only the Queen could make these charges disappear, and I highly doubt that she would do that for the four of us." Tenchi chimed in, the red glow of his aura more pronounced and his fists white with tension as they were clenched on top of the table in open view.

"How dare you make light of our problems old man!!" Ranma snarled as he stood up to his full height as his aura blazed to life, his expression one of intense anger as his hands seemed to sprout evil looking red claws formed from his aura.

The old man stopped laughing at the displays of impending violence and gazed at them all with a light, but sad, smile. "My friends, I didn't mean to insult nor upset you. It was no joke when I said I can make those charges disappear. It would be no problem at all for me to do something so simple." He said calmly.

"And how can an old man like you make these charges that that hateful bastard put on us?!?!" Makoto screamed as she finally hit her breaking point and tears started to fall from her eyes.

The old man looked over at her with sympathy in his eyes as Angus glared at him then moved over to wrap and arm around her and hold her. When she felt his arms go around her, she turned and buried her face into the shoulder of his uniform jacket as sobs wracked her body, shaking not only her, but her chair and the table they were sitting at, with their strength.

Ranma's glare intensified to the point where any normal man would have been turned into a burnt cinder. The older man looked up at Ranma and motioned to Makoto, curious as to what could have caused so much pain in such a fine officer.

"A lot of her friends were in her company. We left everyone behind, the dead, the wounded, even those who weren't but they couldn't keep up. We have no idea if any of them are still alive or not. She's taking it pretty hard. It doesn't help that it was her first command, and she blames herself for their deaths and being left behind." Ranma explained in a low and dangerous voice.

The man nodded in acknowledgement before he sighed. He sat there for a second before seeming to decide something. "That hateful bastard doesn't have even half the connections that I do. I assure you all, if you wish to get the charges dropped, then I could have them gone in less than a day." He told them all.

"Even if you are better connected than him, that doesn't explain how you can get the charges dropped. At least one of our charges is considered a capital crime. It also doesn't explain why you would want to do that for us." Tenchi said blandly.

The old man sighed once more, looking deep in thought. He then looked around briefly, as if worried that someone might overhear what they were talking about. After he saw that no one could indeed overhear them, he looked sharply at the four younger people gathered around him. "What I am about to tell you goes no where. If this gets out it could spell trouble for more than just the four of you. Not to mention the ruin of all of your careers permanently." He said seriously, his eyes conveying just how serious he was.

Ranma looked at his subordinates before he looked back at the older man. "Sir, I speak for all of us, we swear nobody will hear about this from us." Ranma replied equally serious.

Everyone else, except for Makoto who was still crying softly, nodded in agreement.

The man leaned forward and spoke softly to them. "I am General Daffyd McKay, commanding general of the 101st Assault Division. I am also Her Majesty's uncle. My older sister is her mother. Needless to say anything that Uncle Daffyd really wants, my niece is more than happy to aid me in getting. I try not to use this connection at all costs, but to save the careers of four very promising warriors I will use everything I can to do so. So if I want your charges dropped, then they'll be dropped."

The three men looked at each other, each giving a serious thought as to if they should take the deal or not. Angus shrugged his unoccupied shoulder, meaning he didn't care either way. Tenchi raised an eyebrow at Ranma, indicating his interest in the idea. Ranma sighed internally as his gaze went back to Daffyd. The man was now familiar, having met him before as a young boy during a party his father had held. He knew from what he had heard about him that he could be trusted, but Ranma wanted more information about this before he made his choice.

"Sir, if you get our charges dropped, what is the price that we have to pay?" Ranma asked warily, all those years of dealing with Nabiki finally paying off.

Daffyd smirked at him. "Oh its not much Ranma. Just a simple little thing." Was his nonchalant reply.

"And that would be what exactly?" Tenchi asked cautiously, joining his friend and commander.

"If it hurts Mako-chan any more, I'll gut you with a dull and rusty spoon old man." Angus snarled in warning.

Daffyd acknowledged the threat with a simple nod before answering their questions. "All I want is for the four of you to work for me, nothing else." He told them.

"And what would you have us do for you if we chose to take up your offer Sir?" Ranma prodded further.

"I ain't no one's personal slave." Angus said darkly.

"Oh nothing like that Angus. I had a bright idea for a new unit. The Royal Army doesn't have a covert ops unit at this time, so I went ahead and thought up one, drafted its proposal and sent it up to GHQ. This unit, at the company level, could conceivably fight a gorilla action by itself for quite some time. And at the battalion level, could most likely tie up almost four whole divisions on one planet with its gorilla actions." Daffyd told them with a gleam in his eye.

"So what do you need us for then?" Ranma asked.

"The four of you have shown you have what it takes to be covert ops. I'm taking all the ideas from every covert operations unit in history, and you four show all the qualities that one would need. Strength, skill, cunning, never die attitude, intelligence. All of these things the four of you have in spades, and that's just what I need for the unit I'm building." He answered as he leaned forward, trying to impress upon them how much he wants them to work for him.

"Covert ops? Sounds like sneaky spy stuff to me. I'm not suited for anything like that." Tenchi commented.

"Actually Captain, what I have planned for the unit is more along the lines of being covertly dropped onto an enemy planet several months in advance of the regular army units. The units task would then be to wreak as much havoc upon the enemies ability and will to fight as they can for as long as they can before the main body forces arrive. Upon the main body arrival on planet, the unit will move to harassing the supply and communication lines of the enemy, forcing them to fight on two separate fronts until we have eventually conquered them." Daffyd explained.

"And if we do work for you, what would our positions be in this new unit, not to mention its designation?" Angus asked, curious now.

Makoto finally calmed down enough to hear the last couple of comments. She looked up at Daffyd, her expression one of sadness and fear. "You're going to send us back there, aren't you?" She asked fearfully. "Back where we lost so many, back where we'll find nothing but pain, sorrow and death."

Daffyd smiled comfortingly at her. "You are right in some respects, yet wrong in others Captain Kino." He said softly.

"What do you mean Sir?" Angus asked.

"Yes, you all will be returning to Mersedas, but it isn't just to fight these Ghost Bears. Two days ago, GHQ received a report from one Major Tendo, a report about the current state of Mersedas. It seems that several of the people that you were forced to leave behind have started their own gorilla actions against these Clans. You will also be linking up with the anti-Clan forces working on Mersedas and aid them in any way that you can." He told them.

"Some of them survived?!" Tenchi cried out as he jumped to his feet, stunned at the possibility that some of his friends might still be alive.

"W….was there a list of survivors in the report?" Makoto asked hesitantly, afraid to hear that her friends were dead, but needing to know.

Daffyd looked her in the eyes as he spoke. "One wasn't sent with the report. But I know that GHQ requested that Major Tendo send one the next report that she sent so that the families of the deceased can be properly notified."

Makoto took a deep shuddering breath as she stood up, wobbling on her feet as she was quite drunk by now. "Captain Makoto Kino, Royal Army, reporting for duty Sir!" She said as she gave him a drunken salute and almost fell over for her efforts.

Angus caught her before she actually fell and helped her to sit back down again. "Easy there Mako-chan. I think you've had enough to drink tonight." He said softly to her.

Daffyd smiled softly as he looked at the other three. "So gentlemen, what is your answer?" He asked them.

They all looked at each other and grinned. Ranma then turned to face him.

"Sir, you forgot to tell us our new unit designation." He said with a smirk.

Daffyd grinned back at them as he leaned back in his chair. "You'll be the 1st Battalion, 1st Dragoons Regiment. I'll leave the unit's name up to you four though. Glad to have you all aboard." He answered.

They all nodded as they either took their seats or relaxed back into them, happy now that the charges that were arrayed against them were going to disappear.

"So how soon should we be getting official orders to our new unit Sir?" Tenchi asked curiously.

"And what kind of force mix are we looking at here Sir?" Ranma inquired, his tactical mind taking over briefly.

"You'll be receiving your official orders on Monday, as to your force mix, well you'll have to wait to hear about that on Wednesday." Daffyd said with a grin.

"Why do we have to wait that long sir?" Angus asked cocking his head to the side.

"Well aside from getting the orders, and getting the charges dropped, it appears that my niece would like to say some things to the four of you. On top of that, her eldest daughter is a little stuck on the whole army deal. She just finished her contract yesterday and I believe that she misses being around us grunts already." Daffyd explained.

"The Queen wants to talk to us? What for?" Ranma wondered aloud.

"I don't know Ranma, but what the Queen wants, the Queen gets." Daffyd answered as he stood up with hardly a wobble.

"Well I must be off, the wife is probably worried sick about where I'm at right now. I'm sixty-three years old, you'd figure that she would know that I'm capable of making it home every night under my own power." Daffyd commented with a grin as he turned to leave.

"Have a good night sir, and thank you for everything you've done for us." Ranma said as the general started to leave.

Daffyd looked over his shoulder at them with a small smile. "Don't thank me yet lad. I'm a task master, and by the time you hit Mersedas, I'm sure you'll either hate me or love me. But rest assured I'll make sure you'll be well prepared for what I've got planned for you and your people." With that said the general left the bar.

"Angus-kun….." Makoto slurred as she looked up at Angus from the table top with a gleam in her eyes.

Angus noticed the gleam, then looked over at Ranma with a grin. "Hey boss, you promised." He said as he started to stand up slowly.

"Yeah I know, I'll make sure she gets home." Ranma said with a sigh as he moved over to Makoto and helped her to stand up, throwing her arm across his shoulder. "Come on Makoto, let's get you home."

"Ranma? But I want Angus-kun to take me home! He tucks me in properly!!" She whined as she looked down slightly at her smaller commander.

"I'll come wake you up in the morning Mako-chan." Angus told her before he turned to Tenchi, helping the other man to stand up. "Come on Sir, let's get ourselves home."

As Tenchi stood with Angus's help and they started to move towards the door of the bar Makoto stumbled away from Ranma and latched onto Angus's back.

"You ain't leaving me until I at least get a proper good night kiss Sergeant." She told him as sternly as she could as she turned him around and reached down to pull his face up before she kissed him soundly on the lips.

Most of the crowd of the bar ignored the spectacle as Makoto went for broke and tried to suck the life out of Angus. Angus gave as good as he was getting from the tall captain, his arms going around her tall frame, leaving Tenchi to try to remain standing by himself. Ranma sighed as a wobbly Tenchi smirked at the kissing pair. Just as it was about to escalate to the point of clothes being removed, Ranma cleared his throat loudly.

"All right you two, its time to go home." He said with a sad smile.

Slowly the couple broke apart as Angus handed Makoto back to Ranma.

"Sleep well my sexy tomboy. I'll see you in the morning." Angus said softly to her.

"Mmmm, I look forward to that you handsome devil." Makoto responded with equal softness.

"Come on lover boy, let's go." Tenchi said as he threw an arm around Angus and started to stumble for the door, dragging Angus with him.

"I'm ready to go home now Ranma-sempai." Makoto said with a giggle as she drapped herself over his left side.

Ranma sighed theatrically as he easily carried her weight as he escorted her out. "I've told you not to call me that Mako-chan." He admonished softly with a smile as they walked off to Makoto's apartment.

TBC

AN: yup another cliffhanger in a way. Well now we know who the old man was. And now there is romance, but who is with whom? I've got plans for the future of this one! But one and all are welcome to guess who Ranma is likely to end up with. Which Tendo is a Major? Did anybody else survive the fleeing of Mersedas? All this and more in future chapters. Next chapter? Chapter 3: A Meeting of Friends!

Comments are always welcome. Flames as well, but I'll just use them to scare away terrorists.


	4. Chapter 3

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: As I have stated in the Prologue, I do not own anything that other people do, and I would never dream of trying to say that. Some of the characters and ideas in here are mine though. I'm a poor American Soldier who is deployed at the time of this being written.

Authors Notes: Well another chapter. Some hints as to what will happen here, this is where you will see more deviations from cannon Ranma. Loads of fun, and a bit of citrus flavor thrown in as well. While I won't write lemon scenes, I will, do, and have written lime scenes. Originally this chapter was titled Meetings, and I had five separate meetings planned to be written about, but when the first one is still building up by page 10 on paper, well I decided to split each meeting into its own chapter. I hope to have the next chapter in the works and posted quickly, but I make no promises.

Tama Saga: Thanks for the correction, I'll fix that as soon as I can drag up the time and drag myself away from writing new chapters. Also as a minor spoiler, considering one of the Tendo children that is in the military, gorilla does indeed fit ne?

Jerry Unipeg: Thanks! I love plot twists, and there are more in this chapter grins but even better, with powerful friends come powerful enemies. Ranma will have several adversaries, and that's not to mention the ones that General McKay has. This will get more and more interesting as it goes on I hope.

Final Note: Thanks to my reviewers of course. Love the constructive criticism and the comments. I'm working on the TO&E of the Wild Horses all ready, but it will take time. Even then the mechs and vehicles that they do have are vastly different from what is posted in the books. I'll actually get stats done up once I'm stateside again, so if anyone is interested in seeing exactly what the Wild Horses have and what they are equipped with, just zip me an email once I say its done and I'll send you the files I have.

Hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Chapter 3: A Meeting of Friends

Location

Saotome Estate, Planet Manticore

Date

Saturday, 14th Day, 5th Month, 3045 TY

Time

1200 hours Local

The large house was built like an impenetrable fortress. Intimidating, dark and slightly evil looking. But to the Saotome clan it was home. The house had stood there since Manticore had been colonized. Modified as new technologies had come out, and expanded almost beyond recognition a few times, the home was a land mark on the planet's tourism tours. After all, how many planets could boast of a modern day citadel that could withstand the assault of a full platoon of assault battlemechs and win? And that it was owned entirely by one family?

As Tenchi, Makoto and Angus approached the estate, they noticed how quiet it was. Almost as if the resident Master of the estate was asleep and the whole estate asleep with him. All three knew this to be a lie as the Saotome estate never slept completely. The Saotomes had made many enemies over the years and you never knew when someone might try to get a little revenge for past slights.

"So…." Tenchi said as he pulled the anti-grav car up the driveway of the estate. "It sure took you a while to get ready this morning Makoto."

Makoto blushed from where she was sitting in the back of the car as she ducked her head down, letting her hair fall over her face to hide the blush. "I couldn't decide on the right thing to wear. I wanted to impress Aunty this time." Was her soft reply.

"You look wonderful today Makoto." Angus said from the seat next to Tenchi as he glanced back at her. "And I told you that this morning when you came out wearing that as well."

All three were in civilian clothes this day. Makoto was wearing a skirt and blouse combo that showed off her tall athletic body and was in tones of brown and green, almost looking like a forest with the sun shining through the leaves.

Tenchi was the most casual of the three, wearing a simple pair of blue jeans and a Hawaiian style shirt that he left untucked and unbuttoned, showing off a tight white t-shirt that was stretched across his hard abs and chest.

Angus was a little more formal in his clothes, wearing a nice pair of black slacks with a black button up short sleeve shirt that he had tucked in. Most would think of the depths of night when looking at him, all dark and brooding from head to toe.

As they pulled up to the house they once again marveled at the Saotome home. It had been standing there since before the Star Kingdom had begun. The Saotomes were one of the great military dynasty families of the Kingdom. The house and its property had a tendency to be seen as a military base, rather than the family estate that it was.

The 'mech hangar and automatic defense turrets gave a lot of weight to this thought as many wondered if the Saotomes did experimental work for the government or if the family was just paranoid about being attacked at any time.

The three friends, and soon to be founding members of the 1st Dragoons, got out of the car and approached the house slowly and cautiously. Ranma's father, General Genma Saotome, was knows for surprising his guests to his ancestral home with sneak attacks. All three carried small guns that fired little plastic BBs. While not enough to truly hurt someone, they were very effective against the elder Saotome and were the only defense one could bring to bear without causing one's self to get seriously injured.

As they reached the door, surprisingly without incident, Makoto took the lead and knocked politely. Tenchi and Angus looked at each other and grinned, knowing that Makoto had been here far more often than they had, and why.

The door opened to reveal a stunningly beautiful tall Asian woman whose beauty wasn't decreased in the slightest despite the single streak of gray hair that ran from her left temple all the way to the bottom of her long auburn colored hair, just above her lower back. This was the Matriarch of the Saotome clan, Dr. Nodoka Saotome. A scientist of great skill. It was easy for people to see just where Ranma got all his good looks from when one looked upon this beauty, and at the young age of sixty-five she looked ready to tackle any challenge that came her way.

"Mako-chan! What a wonderful surprise!" She cried as she wrapped Makoto up in a tight embrace. "So have you come to seduce my manly son again?"

Makoto blushed bright red as the two men behind her started to laugh at her predicament. Her eyes gleamed as she came up with an idea on how to get back at the men as well as tease and embarrass Ranma.

"Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea Aunty." She said as she returned the hug.

Both men looked shocked at Makoto's words, clearly not expecting such a reaction from her. Tenchi just stared at her like she had grown a new head, while Angus looked hurt as he gazed at her. Both had the same thought floating through their minds after a few seconds. 'Again?!?'

Nodoka smiled as she stepped back into the house to allow them to enter. "He's still asleep in his room. I believe that he had a little too much to drink last night." She explained with a small laugh, her eyes dancing with merriment.

Tenchi shook himself out of his shock and looked over at Nodoka. "Where is General Saotome Aunty?" Tenchi asked as he glanced around a little nervously as they still hadn't been attacked by him.

"Oh he's off at some meeting with the other divisional commanders and the Chief of Staff. Something about the formation of a new type of unit." She told them reassuringly.

All three seemed to relax a bit more as they entered the house, feeling more at ease knowing that the elder, and head of the Saotome military dynasty, was abroad this day. As they walked into the house, it was like moving from night into day. While the outside looked like an imposing, and dark fortress, the inside looked as comfortable and cozy as anyone could wish for. Soft colors, plush carpet, comfortable looking furniture, even a large, inviting fire place, all made any guest feel more at home than what the outside depicted the residence to be.

"So Aunty Nodoka, what have you been up recently?" Angus asked politely as the four of them headed up the stairs in the entry area to the bedrooms of the house.

"Oh not much these days." She replied as they entered the living area of the house. "My group is taking a much needed vacation after our last project."

"Anything that you can tell us about?" Tenchi inquired, always interested in hearing about new technologies.

"Nothing that I can mention at this time, but I'm sure you'll find out about it soon." She told him with a grin.

As they walked down the hallway they caught up on family news. When they reached the end of the hallway they stood before a door with a faded piece of paper tacked to it. The improvised sign was poorly written, as if done by a young child. Its message was simple and plain. 'This is my room! Enter at your own risk!'

Angus and Tenchi blinked, not really believing that their commander would leave such a childish thing on his door for so long. Nodoka just smiled fondly at the sign, as she remembered the day that Ranma proudly put it on his door. Makoto grinned as she remembered what would be on the other side of that door, and knew that the only ones who could enter safely would be her or Ranma's mother.

Makoto turned to the two men and smiled softly at them. "Boys, it would be best if you stayed at the doorway and didn't enter the room." She told them.

"Why? So you can have your way with the Colonel?" Angus asked sourly.

Makoto blinked, not quite understanding why Angus would act like this. "Umm, no, actually it's because of the guardians who are standing on the other side of this door. They have immediate take down orders if you aren't on the 'okay' list. As far as I know, Aunty and I are among the few that are on that list." She explained to them both.

"So you're not really going to seduce Ranma?" Tenchi asked slowly, hoping for an answer that would save him massive headaches.

Makoto grinned again. "As tempting as the idea is, and as much as I'm sure we would enjoy ourselves, no I'm not really going to do that. I am, however, going to tease him with something that he can't have anymore." She told them both as her grin became even more mischievous.

Angus seemed to relax while Tenchi just nodded in answer. Makoto turned back to face the door and reached to open it.

"Now remember, don't come in unless he invites you, no matter what happens. Oh and try not to be too shocked please." She said to them over her shoulder as she opened the door.

The others stood just outside the door and watched as Makoto entered the large bedroom that was revealed to be on the other side of the door. She had barely taken more than three steps into the room when she was knocked down to the ground by a pair of what looked like six limbed cats. One of them was a dark grey with cream stripes on its bushy tail, while the other was cream with dark grey stripes on its tail. Both of them virtually sat on Makoto's chest as they brought their faces up to hers and started to rub themselves against her as they purred loudly.

Makoto reached up and started to scratch their heads as she smiled at them. "It's good to see you too Yin, Yang." She said softly to the two cats. "Now let me up so I can go wake up Ranma okay?"

The two cat-like creatures bleeked in amusement and climbed off of her, allowing Makoto to stand up. Once standing she looked over at the group gathered right behind her and grinned impishly. As she walked towards Ranma's bed, she shed her clothes, dropping them where ever until she was completely naked, not caring about the free show that she was giving everyone at all. She then carefully climbed into Ranma's bed and snuggled against his back.

"What the hell?! I thought that she wasn't going to seduce him?!" Angus whispered harshly to the other two.

"Calm down Angus-kun." Nodoka softly admonished him. "If she was planning on seducing him then she would have snuggled up to his front with him behind her. She is just going to wake him up. Trust me, this is one of the quickest ways to do it."

"Wish I could be woken up like that." Tenchi said wistfully as he watched Makoto work.

They all watched as her hands roamed his chest as she seemed to sleepily murmur something in his ear. At first it looked like it wasn't working at all, but suddenly, much to the men's surprise, Ranma seemed to teleport out of the bed to cling to the ceiling. Makoto lay there on the bed, looking like she was asleep and undisturbed by Ranma's movements, while somehow also staying covered by the blankets that were on the bed.

Ranma glanced around in surprise, and a little fear, about the room. Taking in Makoto's clothes spread from the door to his bed, including her underwear, yet somehow missing the simple fact that his door stood wide open and three people were watching him.

Ranma dropped down silently to the floor and leveled a glare at the two cat-like creatures. "You two are supposed to prevent things like this from happening." He whispered harshly as he didn't want to wake Makoto up.

The two cats bleeked cheerfully at him as he started to put on more clothes than the boxers he was currently wearing. He looked back at Makoto as he dressed, a confused look on his face.

"How did she get in here? I know that I left her at her place last night." He mused aloud as he finished getting dressed. "Knew that I shouldn't have told her about my big secret, now I'll never live it down. Thank the gods nobody else knows about it except for my family."

He turned and started to root around in his dresser for a pair of socks when he heard laughter from two different directions. The one from his bed he could understand, as Makoto was there, but the one from his door on the other hand, required immediate attention. He spun around to face the door only to see his mother, Angus and Tenchi standing on the other side. His mother was the one laughing, while Tenchi and Angus just stared, as if having trouble believing what they saw and heard from Ranma. He glanced back at the bed, and sure enough, Makoto was sitting up, his favorite blanket wrapped around her body, laughing her ass off like there was no tomorrow.

Ranma quickly squashed the idea of tearing a new one out of Makoto, as this was the first time that any of them had heard her laugh since Mersedas. Instead he chose to round on his mother and let her know of his displeasure.

"Mother!! How could you allow something like this to happen!? You know how much Oyaji is a stickler for the regs!! He'd flip if he knew what just happened here!!" Ranma yelled at her.

"Oh do calm down Ranma." His mother chided him as she stopped laughing. "It was all in good fun, no harm was meant at all and you know it."

"FUN!?! Mother you know what she _knows_! Can you guess what she was murmuring in her sleep?!" Ranma ranted.

"Oh I didn't mean it Ranma. We aren't together anymore, and I wouldn't dream of making you uncomfortable like that." Makoto cut in as she got up from the bed, the blanket draped around her like a large toga.

All three men stared in awe as Makoto seemed to glide up to Ranma. She stared deep into his eyes, seeming to communicate with just their eyes. Suddenly she leaned forward and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"I love you Ranma, but as a friend and a brother I can tease, rather than as the lovers that we used to be." She said with a smile, then she smacked his ass as she turned him around. "Now be a good boy and leave so I can get redressed." With that she gave him a light shove to get him moving again.

Mindlessly, Ranma obeyed and left his room, shutting the door behind him. Once outside he looked at the others and blinked as a thought occurred to him. "Wait a minute! Redressed?!?!" Ranma exclaimed as he started to turn back around.

"Yeah you should have seen it boss." Tenchi said with a grin.

"I didn't know a drunken undressing could look so sexy when done stone cold sober." Angus commented.

Ranma turned back around slowly to face the three of them, an unreadable expression on his face as his mind raced with all the information it had received in the last few minutes.

"It was so sweet of Mako-chan to leave the door open so that the guys could be in on the joke. I always knew that she was a bit of an exhibitionist." Nodoka added.

Ranma came to the decision to take Makoto's words and feelings at face value. His expression began to darken as he leveled a almost deadly glare at the two men. "You two watched my 'little sister' strip and crawl into my bed?!" He asked in a soft and very dangerous voice, as if their next answer would either save their lives, or condemn them.

Tench and Angus started to look nervous, and both swallowed around suddenly dry throats, as they knew a pissed off and quiet Ranma was more dangerous than a pack full of hexapumas.

"Uh, it wasn't intentional Sir." Tenchi said in their defense. "We didn't know what kind of joke she was planning on playing on you."

Ranma visibly relaxed before he turned to his mother, ignoring the two men for the time being. "Mom, I think that Mako-chan was serious about how she feels for me. I know her parents are dead, and the rest of her family rejected her because of what she was doing with her life. Can you see about adopting her into the Clan?" He asked her, a serious expression on his face.

"I'll find out what your father thinks, but I would be honored to call her my daughter." Nodoka answered. "Though I don't think that your father will object too much to the idea, I think he likes her too."

Before any further comments could be made, the door to Ranma's room opened, revealing a fully clothed and happy Makoto. Everyone smiled back at her large smile.

"So, what's for breakfast?" Makoto asked as both her and Ranma's stomachs growled at the same time at the mention of food.

Angus glanced over at Tenchi and grinned, trying to cover up his nervousness in front of Makoto. "They sound like siblings, eh Tenchi?" He commented, causing Makoto to blush madly for some reason.

Everyone else chuckled in amusement as they started to head back downstairs to eat.

"We do _not_ sound like siblings!!" Makoto cried as she jogged to catch up to the retreating quartet.

When she caught up to them she threw an arm around Tenchi and Angus. "What's the big idea about calling us siblings?" She half growled at the two of them.

Both men wisely kept quiet as they continued to walk. Ranma, following behind them with his mother, looked at his mother and grinned evilly. He motioned to the trio and affected an angry look, then pantomimed yelling at the two men while dragging Makoto to stand behind him. Nodoka giggled softly, so that the unsuspecting trio wouldn't find anything out, and nodded her approval to her son.

Ranma's grin turned truly evil as he emitted an aura of malice and anger before he spoke softly. "Get your hands off my sister now before I break them, slowly." He threatened.

"But she's hanging off of us!" Angus countered, not thinking clearly with one of Makoto's breasts pressed against his side.

Ranma gently reached out and drew Makoto back and behind him. "Wrong answer." He said softly before he grabbed both men in a tight head lock. Both men struggled vainly to escape from his grasp, but Ranma had both a good hold and was using his Ki to ensure that they couldn't escape their punishment.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow. Let go Ranma!" Tenchi said painfully as Ranma half marched, half dragged them down the hall.

"We'll be to breakfast in a bit mom. I need to have a _talk_ with these two." Ranma said cheerfully as he thumped the two men down the stairs and then out the front door.

Makoto stood in stunned shock, never having seen Ranma go into protection mood like that before, even when they were a couple. Nodoka smiled softly and grabbed Makoto's hand and led her to the kitchen.

"Come daughter, we'll need to have a big meal prepared for when the boys are done playing." She told Makoto. Makoto, stunned even further, followed in silence, not expecting the words she was hearing from Nodoka at all.

Half an hour later everyone was gathered at the table, a veritable feast spread out before them all. Makoto stared at Angus and Tenchi, who were covered in light bruises that looked to be very painful. Ranma, on the other hand, looked smug and untouched at his spot of the table. Nodoka presided over it all like a queen as she calmly served breakfast.

"So what did you guys want to talk about, that you felt the need to wake me up for at least, rather than waiting for me to get up on my own." Ranma asked as he paused in his eating.

Tenchi looked up at Ranma and grinned through his pain. "Who is going where exactly in our new unit?" Tenchi responded with a question of his own.

Before any other comments could be made, Nodoka almost jumped on Tenchi's words. "What new unit? I thought that all of you were facing capital charges! How can you be getting a new unit then?" She asked as she gripped Tenchi's shoulder fairly tightly. Tenchi wince in pain and tried not to cry out, Ranma had done a good round of beating on the two of them for 'touching' his sister.

Ranma cleared his throat, drawing his mother's attention away from the injured Tenchi and to himself instead. "The charges against us, plus the stains on our honor because of them, are being dropped. Once they are dropped, we will be assigned to a new unit." Ranma told her.

Nodoka sat back down at her spot and looked carefully at Ranma. "What is your new unit? Who is it that got the charges dropped for you?" She asked excitedly.

The four friends looked at each other before nodding. Ranma looked back at his mother and sighed. "We don't' know a lot about our new unit yet. We're to be in the 1st Battalion, 1st Dragoons Regiment. Our savior asked not to be revealed to anyone, and I will honor their request." He told her.

"1st Dragoons? Never heard of that unit." She mused to herself before she shook her head and smiled at her son. "Well, I've got some good news for you Ranma." She told him with a cheerful grin.

Ranma raised an eyebrow at her, as the last time that his mother said she had good news was the day that changed his life forever.

"My team finally worked out the bugs on the KPC design. It draws hardly anything at all from its battery, but the amplifiers make it more powerful than the Extended Range PPC, and with a longer range than a light autocannon. I've taken the liberty of installing it on your mech. I replaced your old PPC with it, it's almost the same weight, so I added another ton of armor also." She told Ranma proudly.

Everyone looked confused at what they heard from Nodoka, except for Ranma, as he had been a large part of her work over the last two decades.

Makoto suddenly looked between the two Saotomes before she couldn't contain herself any longer. "What's the deal with the family thing with me? Not that I mind of course, but it's mean to tease me like that. You all know how much I miss having a family, and how much it hurts that my living relatives have shut me out of their lives." She said a small sad smile on her face.

Nodoka smiled softly while Ranma grinned widely at her. Both of them happy that they could do something to cheer up the young woman who had made such an impact on them since they've known her.

"Who said we were joking about that Mako-chan. Mom and I both know how much that would hurt you, so we wouldn't dream of joking about something like this." Ranma said cheerfully.

"Indeed daughter, all we are waiting on is for Genma to approve of it. Once he does that, it is just a matter of doing the proper paperwork and you will be a member of our family." Nodoka informed her just as cheerfully as her son.

"Really? You'd do that for me?" Makoto asked in wonder and fear.

"Yes really." Ranma answered.

Before anything else could be said on the subject, Tenchi butted in, breaking up what could have been a tearful and touching moment.

"What the heck is a KPC? And what are we going to name our new unit?" He asked.

Everyone blinked at his questions, not expecting them and somewhat shocked that he would break into such a tender moment with business. Ranma had to do a quick change of mental gears before he answered, while the two females glared daggers at Tenchi, who, being used to such things, ignored them.

"Umm, well the KPC is still technically classified, but I'll tell you guys as two of you are able to utilize it. KPC stands for Ki Projection Cannon. Mom is the head scientist of a group that has been studying Ki and genetics and how they can be used, for the last forty-five years. Her mother is also the brains behind prolong, and mother has expanded immensely upon Grandma's work. Mom also has somehow made me into a Ki furnace, I generate so much Ki that if I don't let it bleed off, I'd probably blow up rather spectacularly. The KPC was designed with Ki adepts like me and Tenchi and Makoto in mind. It's a slow firing weapon similar in idea to the Particle Projection Cannon that is in common use today. It draws a little bit of your Ki away from you then runs it through a series of amplifiers before it then launches it down range. The actual thing that causes the slow firing rate is the fact that the amplifiers have to cool down before another round can be fired." Ranma explained to them

"And our unit name? Not to mention where you are going to assign us within the unit?" Angus prodded, deciding that if Tenchi was going to take the initial HEAT round, that he could probably join in without raising the ire of any females.

"Well….." Ranma thought carefully before he decided on what he was going to say. "We'll call ourselves the Wild Horses. Because you cant keep us down and we never give up. We're untamed and refuse to be tamed. I'll put Makoto in charge of Alpha Company, and Tenchi in Bravo Company. Angus you'll be in HHC with me, as I'll need someone I know I can trust to watch my back when I'm on the ground." He told them.

"Roger that sir." Angus replied.

"All right Ranma." Tenchi said.

"You trust me with another company?" Makoto asked, a little frightened at the idea of leading another unit into battle.

"Of course I'd trust you with another company Mako-chan. You did very well on Mersedas, despite what happened to us there." Ranma answered her soothingly. "I have all the faith in the galaxy that you'll do well with this new unit Makoto."

"Can't wait to see what our TO&E is going to be like for this new unit. I hope it'll have everything we'll need to accomplish the missions that we were told about." Tenchi said in wonderment.

"Neither can I, Tenchi, neither can I." Ranma agreed.

As they slowly finished breakfast, they talked about nonsense things and discussed what they would do for the rest of the day. After breakfast was finished, and the dishes all cleaned and put away, they moved to the den. As they sat and enjoyed the Tri-D they decided that they would just vegetate this weekend, and not worry about anything else the whole weekend. After all, the kingdom won't fall apart on them if they decided to take _one_ weekend off to just relax and unwind.

TBC

End Authors Notes: Well there it is. The first of the meetings chapters. Longest chapter to date I believe! Took me quite a while to write this one properly. I hope to have chapter four up soon, but I don't know how long its going to take. Things are getting a bit hectic here as they are rumors of redeployment back to the states soon. Haven't heard any dates yet, but I hope to God its soon. Anywho, comments are always welcome, flames will be used to route out terrorist cells and bunkers. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!!

Until the next one this is CptDave signing off!


	5. Chapter 4

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: Still don't own anything in this story. Please remember that by writing this I'm paying homage to those who do. It is because of them that I am able to write things like this, for without their wonderful works we wouldn't have fanfiction!

Before Authors notes: Well yet another chapter. Thanks for all the reviews that I've been getting. Glad that so many of you like this story! I'm trying my hardest to get more out as quickly as I can, but my job does limit me on my spare time. Personally I'm very pleased with how much I have been writing and how much has been put out! The MTOE (Military Table of Organization and Equipment) roster is slowly being done. I will most likely be able to post it about the time that it is set for, which is going to be somewhere near the end of this arc of my story. Right now I'm mostly complete with the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, but I still have four combat companies to draw up after that. Lots of work, but hey its all in good fun, I'm planning on using this unit for an actual Battletech/Mechwarrior game sometime in the future.

**Jerry Unipeg:** Indeed it does! But when you were once intense lovers and then best friends even after you stopped being lovers, there is a lot of trust there, especially when you're talking about watching each others backs in the middle of a fire fight. More will come out in later chapters.

**Ranger5: **Thank you very much. I've always felt that there are times when something should be implied, something should be described loosely, and something that should be described in great detail. Some fight scenes in the later chapters I have planned will be very detailed, especially when it gets into the heavy combat chapters (mech battles, infantry battles, tank battles)

**Nysk:** Indeed I am leaning towards the Ranma type things with the Ki projectile weapons. I think it adds a bit of spice to the universe in which I'm writing. That and it also gives Manticore a technology besides anti-grav that is unique when compared to the Inner Sphere and the Clans. Now mind you I'm planning on leaving certain technologies that come from those two that Manticore doesn't and won't have without either stealing it or buying it. But you'll have to wait to see what those technologies are.

Once again thank you for all the wonderful reviews. The support that I've been getting for this story is great!

Story Stats: 2,300+ hits!! Story is on 3 C2s, 1 Favs list and 4 Alerts!!

Guesses as to who Ranma may end up with? Here are the casts lists that will be included, Ranma ½ (core fiancées + Tendo sisters), Tenchi Muyo (core Tenchi girls), Sailor Moon cast (all Sailors), as well as a few self created females floating about. Email me with your votes and I'll post it on here. Email address is on with the story!!

Chapter 4: A Meeting of Generals

Location: War Chamber, Royal Army HQ, Capitol City, Planet Manticore

Date: Saturday, 14th Day, 5th Month, 3045 TY

Time: 0930 Hours Local

The large room was quiet. Fifteen older gentlemen sat around a large round table that sat at the center of the room. While none were in uniform, one could tell by the way they held themselves that theses were all veterans of many conflicts and military men of vast experience and time.

Some of them could be easily identified from the times they had been on the news. Others due to being in one of the four great Army dynasties. General Genma Saotome, a large portly man with a bald head and stern countenance and a staunch supporter of the Crown, sat at the north end of the table. Next to him on his left sat his long time friend and companion, General Soun Tendo, a man, who despite his age, refused to have grey hair and was also a firm Crown Loyalist. On Genma's right sat General Daffyd McKay, uncle to the Queen and not a man to cross in his own right.

Across from these three at the south end of the table, sat three other men. The center most was a man that had been seen on the news quite a bit as of late. His name was General Sam Michaelson, and he was firmly in the Liberal Party's camp. On his left was a tall regal looking man who had a minor air of insanity around him, General Todai Kuno, a staunch Conservative Association member. On his right sat the only other Liberal Party general, a tall skinny man whose darting eyes almost made him look criminal, General Matthew McHenry.

All three of the Crown Loyalists at the north end, glared at the three at the south end. There was much animosity between the six men, and many an argument on policy and tactics had flown thick, fast and personal between them. All three of the south end generals sat there, almost ignoring the way they were being glared at, as if they were completely immune to anything the Loyalists could do to them. They appeared to be absolutely confident in the knowledge that they had and that no one could dislodge them from their intended course.

"You do realize that I will never allow these trumped up charges to go any further!" Genma snarled at them.

"General Saotome, I don't care what you think. Your son is a coward and an insubordinate officer who refuses to obey orders." General Michaelson stated calmly.

Genma looked like he was about to leap across the table and kill Michaelson for saying his slanderous words. As he was about to do just that, Soun laid a hand on his shoulder, stilling his motions and causing him to look at his friend. Soun shook his head slightly, then turned to face Michaelson.

"General Michaelson, that is not what the report that I received yesterday stated." Soun said. "I have it on record that you ordered the whole division to retreat except for the 9th Squadron. In fact, it states that you ordered Lieutenant Colonel Saotome to stay where he was and fight to the last man."

"Lies! I would never order any of my men to do that! I ordered Colonel Saotome to cover the Division's retreat until I could be sure that I could provide adequate air support to aid his unit in its falling back." General Michaelson responded, starting to show some anger at the accusations thrown his way. The two men beside him stiffening in anger as well.

General McKay leaned forward and steeples his hands under his nose, adopting a Gendo Ikari pose and glare at the three generals at the other end of the table.

"Tendo are you implying that Michaleson ordered the 9/9 to stand and die even if they could fall back without endangering the division's retreat?" Asked General Kuno cautiously.

Soun looked at the man and nodded gravely. "That is exactly what I'm saying. In your blotters you will find Lieutenant Colonel Saotome's unaltered report on the First Battle of Mersedas. After that is a report by a trusted intelligence officer that I had imbedded in Colonel Saotome's unit. Then another report by the Division Executive Officer, also unaltered." He told everyone.

Michaelson's eyes widened slightly as he realized that his attempt to cripple and humiliate the Saotome family was about to blow up in his face. He thought carefully and quickly to try to come up with some way to deflect the blame from him. As he thought he looked like he was reading through the reports, so that no one was too suspicious of him. As he sat there he remembered that his XO's secretary hated Ranma more than he had seen anyone hate someone. The only problem was that this woman was General Kuno's own daughter. He hoped that his associate wouldn't be too upset with him pinning the blame on her. But it would be a piece of cake for him to make it look like it was she that had doctored the reports rather than himself.

When everyone had finished going over the reports they all turned and looked at General Michaelson. Some glared at him, angry with the thought that he just tried to arrange for a promising young field commander's career to be ruined. A few looked a little jealous as they hadn't thought to do that, but looked disappointed that it wasn't going to work.

"General, you have some explaining to do. This is completely unacceptable!" Growled one of the other generals.

Michaelson looked calmly at them all, not like a man caught in a lie, but like a man assured of his innocence. "Gentlemen, while it is well known that the Saotome family and mine do not get along, I would never stoop so low as to doctor reports. If I remember correctly, all of these reports, aside from the one from General Tendo's intelligence officer, that you have all initially read through, and agreed with my opinions of them, came through the office of my Executive Officer, correct?" He said calmly.

"Yes yes, we know all of this, please get on with the point." General McHenry said, not really wanting to hear his fellow wax poetic again. The other generals all nodded in agreement, wanting to hear the reason or excuse that Michaelson had come up with.

"My XO usually has his secretary proof read all reports before he has her send them higher. Unfortunately his secretary hates the Saotome family even more than I do. I suspect that it was she who doctored the reports that I initially saw and based my decisions to charge them with the crimes that I did." Michaelson concluded smoothly.

Genma looked ready to argue this fact until Daffyd cleared his throat, drawing all the attention to him.

"Sam, while you and I have never gotten along well, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt. After all, a Knight of the Realm wouldn't lie to a fellow Knight, now would he? So who is this secretary that you think might have altered those reports?" Daffyd asked politely.

"Her name is Captain Kodachi Kuno" Michaelson answered.

"Shit! She would do that to the boy! That woman is ruthless and hates my boy more than anyone I've ever seen." Genma cursed.

"WHAT!!! How dare you insult my girl like that!!" Kuno said as he stood up suddenly, glaring at Genma, ignoring the fact that his companion just blamed it all on his daughter.

"When she tries to can my son's career I'll say whatever I damn well want to!" Genma hotly countered as he too stood up.

Soon people on all sides of the table were up and yelling at each other across the table. The only calm ones were Daffyd, the Chief of Staff and a smaller man with glasses who just shook his head at the stupidity of his companions. Suddenly the Chief of Staff stood up and banged his fists onto the table, causing everyone to suddenly quiet down and look over at him apprehensively.

"That is quite enough gentlemen. We are Generals, not children arguing in the school yard. General Mitsuharu, is that enough evidence for you to start an investigation on Captain Kuno?" The Chief asked.

"Of course Sir. I'll get my inspectors on it on Monday. I should have something for the courts no later than Friday." Responded a thin man with glasses as he pushed them further up his nose.

"Then with that out of the way, can we then drop these charges on the survivors of the 9th Squadron?" Another general asked.

Everyone looked to the three men at the south end of the table, most of the others in agreement already to just drop the charges. The three opponents of the Saotome clan looked at each other and slowly the other two nodded to Michaelson. Michaelson looked briefly rebellious about the idea but internally sighed.

"As the information that I was given was indeed false, then yes I will withdraw all charges that were levied against the surviving members of the 9th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment." He said grudgingly.

The other generals all nodded in agreement, feeling better that everyone agreed with what was the right thing to do.

"All right, I'll have that done today. General Saotome, you can tell your son that he is a free man now." Mitsuharu told Genma.

"Now what is it that you wanted to talk about General McKay?" One of the other men asked suddenly.

General McKay hit a couple of buttons on his blotter, bringing up the holo tank imbedded in the table to life. He brought up a display of one of the mechs used by Clan Ghost Bear. Its bipedal form had the cockpit setup of a catapult along with the two missile boxes on the shoulders, but it had two arms with a nasty looking combination of weapons.

"This, gentlemen, is what the Clans call a Timber Wolf. We faced several of these mechs on Mersedas. Reports indicate that they are nearly on par with us technology wise. Fighting them head on, as we have learned, isn't all that successful as they appear to be as highly trained as our people are." Daffyd told them.

"Yes yes, we all know this KcKay, get to the bloody point." General McHenry said in exasperation.

"Please bear with me on this McHenry. What I propose is the formation of a new unit. This unit would be designed to be dropped onto an enemy held planet well in advance of our main combat forces. Their task would be to whittle away at the fighting strength and morale of the enemy troops until we really attacked. At that point they would move to harassing the enemy's supply and communication lines. In essence, gentlemen, I propose we make a covert operations unit, something that our military has never had since its creation." Daffyd explained.

"All right, I can see how that could come in handy. Especially when dealing with pirates. But how would you get them on planet without being detected, its impossible to sneak up on a planet, much less drop forces on it undetected!" Michaelson countered.

"Indeed, we've done the simulations and even war games on that very subject and nobody has succeeded in doing such a thing." Kuno said, throwing more doubt into the idea.

"There are several newer technologies that just recently came out that we could apply to great effect in this case gentlemen. A branch of the Haumptman Cartel that does R&D for the navy has come up with a stealth system that almost completely cloaks anything smaller than a jumpship. The navy has already field tested the design and agrees that dropships equipped with such defenses would be almost impossible to detect as they approach a planet, then as it enters atmosphere it almost seems like a asteroid burning up in the atmosphere upon entry." Genma said, being the more knowledgeable about the newest technologies.

"All right, so we have the ability to make the dropships we would need for such a unit, but how would this unit be organized? A cavalry squadron couldn't do what you're saying all that well, so are you suggesting a new MTOE design for this unit?" Soun asked, everyone else at the table agreeing with him.

"You're right Tendo, it would require a new MTOE design. You'll find the proposed roster design in your blotters. As you can see, each combat company is entirely self sufficient. The Headquarters and Headquarters Company does have some combat capabilities but it is mostly for supporting the rest of the battalion." He responded.

"Dear God! I've never seen an organization like this! Who the hell do we have that could make such a unit as this hodge podge actually work?!" Genma exclaimed as he read through the file.

Other generals expressed the same doubts about how the unit was to be organized. Most saying that it would be nigh impossible for any battalion commander that they currently have to actually succeed in doing what needed to be done with this unit.

"There aren't many that could do it." One of the quieter generals spoke up.

"Indeed there aren't General Sanders. I've prepared a list of personnel and whole platoons from across the Army that I feel would be well suited for this new unit." Daffyd said to everyone. "General Sanders if you could please review the list and give me your thoughts on it." He slid a datapad across the table to the short man who had spoken before he did.

General Sanders carefully read through the request, grunting at some of the groups and people listed there in. "I don't see too much of a problem with your requests. Some of these people won't be happy about leaving their current units though. I'm concerned though about four of the personnel that you want." He said as he looked back up at him.

"Which four is that?" General Kuno asked curiously.

Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome, Captain Tenchi Masaki, Captain Makoto Kino, and Sergeant Angus McRory." Sanders read off from the list.

"You want those four in this new unit?!? Are you insane?! They'll destroy your precious new unit before it does any good! You should give it to someone with more experience and who is a proven battalion commander!" Michaelson yelled, clearly upset with the idea.

"No I'm not insane, and yes I am serious. I think those four will do very well in this new unit. They will be an asset to it, not a detriment." Daffyd countered.

Before anyone else could say something on the subject, General Sanders cleared his throat, drawing attention back to him. "As reluctant as I am at putting a recently exonerated commander into a brand new unit like this, I feel that I must agree with General McKay. Colonel Saotome was actually on the very short list of people that I thought would be capable of commanding such a unit as this." He told everyone.

"Think of it as rehabilitation of the four of them. I'll personally oversee their rehabilitation. Besides all of you have had to stand up a brand new unit at least once in your careers, you know how much hard work and effort goes into that. So despite whatever feather you think I'm putting into young Ranma's cap, remember how much harder he will have to work in order to make this unit even a tenth as successful as the 9th Squadron was.

The other generals, including the three opposition generals, could only find themselves agreeing with the logic in that one. Standing up any brand new unit was difficult at best, but to stand one up with a force organization like this one? It will end up being a logistical nightmare.

"All right, we'll accept that. Now how long will this new unit be in training before we can commit them to an attack?" General McHenry asked.

"Given the wide variety of forces and the different personalities that are bound to be in this unit, not to mention getting the logistics straightened out as well as the creation of the units dropships, I would say that it would be at least three or four years at most until they're ready. Most of that time, unfortunately is getting the new dropships built and ready for use. Once those are constructed they should be ready for the real training to begin. I have planned several field operations on various planets around the Kingdom. The training will be to do what they will be doing when we actually put them to work. Sneak into a planet, and create havoc for as long as they can. Once they are done, I expect this unit to be the best that we have to offer, a shining example of what the Army is capable of.

"So you feel its best to leave our Kingdom's citizens in the hands of these Ghost Bears for four years?!?!" Michaelson exclaimed.

"They wouldn't be in their hands if you had stayed and fought like a true warrior, rather than running like the cowardly dog that you are!" Genma snarled at him in anger. "At least my son acquitted himself well."

"HOW DARE YOU!!" Michaelson yelled as he stood up in anger.

"Sit down and shut up!" The Chief of Staff yelled at them. The two men sat down quickly and looked cautiously at him, none of them wanting to anger the man. "General McKay and I have already discussed this issue. I agreed with his arguments then, and now. According to the report done by Major Tendo, who is still on Mersedas, the Ghost Bears are treating our citizens well. In fact, the guerillas are holding off their attacks until Major Tendo can confirm that there won't be any retaliation attacks done on the civilian population. In addition, the Queen has been informed of this plan and fully supports both the formation of this unit and the necessary wait time for it to be fully prepared to combat the Ghost Bears and any future enemies that we might encounter." He told all of them

The other generals accepted his decision gracefully, though the opposition did so with great reluctance. While they knew there was nothing they could do to stop its formation, all three of them plotted in how they could make it fail at a later date, then step in themselves to deal with these Ghost Bears.

"General Sanders, I want orders to go out starting tomorrow. See to it personally that everything runs smoothly." The Chief ordered.

"Yes Sir! It'll be done by Monday evening." Sanders promised.

"All right then, next on the agenda today……."

To Be Continued!!

End Author's Notes: Heh, I'm a bastard aren't I? Well the charges were dropped, and not by the Queen! Things are starting to look up for our group, yet trouble always is brewing when Ranma is involved. For those who don't know, it is a lot of work standing up a brand new unit, even if you are working with a core of experienced personnel. I've done it as a soldier and NCO and it's tough. Logistics really is a bitch as you can never seem to get what you need when you need it and what you don't need when you don't need it! Anyway, hope you like this one, a bit drier and shorter than the last couple of chapters, but it needed to be done.

Until the next chapter then my friends.

Chapter 5: A Meeting of Family

This is Captain Dave signing off!


	6. Chapter 5

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: Please remember that I don't own 98 percent of what I write in this story. Most of it is the intellectual property of several other people and this story is, in a way, paying homage to these great minds.

**James Axelrad:** Thank you, hope you continue to enjoy it!

**Nysk:** Thank you, I am trying very hard to continue with that development. I always seek to expand my knowledge as a writer and there is always room for growth and improvement.

**Jerry Unipeg:** Yeah I'm partial to the Timber Wolf as well, which is why it got put in at this time. Thanks for the compliment on Michaelson, he is the amalgamation of several people that I know that are all self-serving idiots (my humble opinion).

Author's Notes: Hey there all, thanks for the wonderful reviews that you all have been giving me! I hope that I continue to meet the expectations that you all have. On a side note about this story, the MTOE for the Wild Horses is still being worked on steadily. I have completed HHC and Alpha Company. I've also been working on stats for the various vehicles within the unit. I hope to have it all up and running before I need to be posting the MTOE. If you are interested in seeing the stats after I've posted the MTOE, let me know, I'll email them as attachments to you. Also, if you see a mech or vehicle name that you are familiar with in the service of the Star Kingdom, its looks and name are the only thing that it shares in common with its namesake. Most, if not all of the equipment that they carry is going to be slightly different. Mostly on the fact that most of them are Clan equivalent in weight and space it takes up, as well as range and damage.

Well so far not many have voted for who is Ranma likely to end up with. Here is the poll so far.

Ryoko (Tenchi): 1

Well on with the story now!

Chapter 5: A Meeting of Family

Location: Royal Palace, Capitol City, Planet Manticore

Date: Sunday, 15th Day, 5th Month, 3045 TY

Time: 0800 hours Local

Daffyd McKay walked slowly through the sprawling stone edifice known to the Star Kingdom's citizens as the Royal Palace. Each sight bringing back fond memories of when he was a child. He'd met his wife in these hallowed halls as a young lad. Here he played hide and sneak with his older sister and the servants for hours. Here his parents were brutally murdered by men who thought they might be able to control his older sister while she was still young.

As he passed the guards he nodded at the ones he knew. Happy to see men that could be trusted guarding his niece. His thoughts turned to the upcoming meeting with his family as he continued to walk the halls. He hoped that maybe he could restrain his niece from over reacting to some of the words that were said at the General's meeting.

He knew that Her Majesty admired the Saotome family a great deal. It had been a young teenage Ranma that had saved her life from assassins one day while she was on a good will trip to Sphinx. Daffyd was sure that, had she not already been in love and married she would now be getting Ranma in her bed as her husband rather than her current husband.

As he drew nearer to the room where the family get-together was going to take place, he thought fondly of his grand niece. He was a little worried about her as she had just gotten out of the Army. He knew that she had a huge case of hero worship when it came to Ranma Saotome, and despite being ten years younger than the Colonel, she had professed a huge case of being in lust with Ranma. She had even let it be known that she would do almost anything to find out if he lived up to his name. She had also decided to break McKay tradition and joined as an enlisted soldier rather than going into the academy that most of them had done in the past. Although she did obtain the respectable rank of Sergeant before she got out, it was obvious to him that she missed being in the Army. He knew that the only reason why she got out was because of pressure from her father.

Daffyd shook his head at the idea and hoped that his wife and children were already there. He didn't get along very well with his niece's husband as he was a card carrying liberal, and Daffyd always had problems with liberals (1).

Daffyd hoped to avoid yet another argument about the need to downsize the military and spend the money that would result from that on more useful things. Last time they argued for over six hours on that subject alone, and the only reason why it stopped was because his wife had dragged him back home to spend some time with his children.

Knowing the man as he did though, the opportunity to harass him over the Army's retreat from Mersedas would be too much to pass over. If Arthur pushed it too far, well it wouldn't be the first time he decked the man in anger.

He approached a simple set of doors; the two guards standing there came to attention and saluted him.

"Welcome home Sir." The older of the two said respectfully.

"Thank you Walter." Daffyd replied. "Who is here already?"

"Her Majesty, her husband, the four demons, your wife and your six children." Walter answered.

"All right, I can do this. I can go one family get together without getting into an argument with or decking , His Majesty." Daffyd said aloud to them.

"You just keep telling yourself that Sir. Maybe one day it will actually happen." Walter said with a grin.

All three men laughed as they knew the likelihood of that happening was slim to none. Daffyd reached forward and opened the door, bracing himself for the oncoming battle.

"DADDY!" Four separate voices cried as Daffyd came flying back out of the room, four young children attached to his legs and arms. Together they hit the ground, forcing the air out of Daffyd's lungs, and slid another seven meters passed the two guards.

The guards grinned as this had become a more common occurrence since the young ones had become five years old, three years ago. Daffyd hugged his four children to him. His sons, attached to his arms, were babbling nonstop about their weekend with their cousins. His girls, currently attached to his legs, were content with being quiet and just cuddling with their father, something they had grown to love because of their mother.

"Okay children, let your father up, he's not as young as he used to be." Said a tall, dark haired and skinned woman from the door.

"Yes Mommy!" All four said at the same time. The four children got off of Daffyd and soon surrounded their mother.

"You know Uncle, I think your kids will be the death of you instead of an enemy." Said a regal looking woman, who was just barely shorter than Daffyd.

Daffyd carefully got up from the floor, putting a hand to his lower back as it twinged from his landing. "I believe there may be some truth in your words Natsumi-chan." He said as he looked at her with a light smile. "But I love my children just the way they are."

"Glad to hear that Sir." A young man, who could have passed for a much younger Daffyd, said with a grin.

Daffyd walked back into the room and grabbed the young man's shoulder. "How was training Michael?" He asked. After letting go he leaned over and kissed his wife lightly. Eliciting a few ewws from his younger children.

"It was great Dad. I haven't gotten orders yet though. They mentioned that on Monday our class would be receiving them. The rumor mill said that I was slated for the Home Guard, but a friend called me and said that the top people in our class were being shunted to a brand new unit." Michael answered.

"Odd that the Army is creating a new unit after its sound defeat at Mersedas." A dark skinned, black haired short man commented snidely.

Several people sighed as the King started up the age old argument. Daffyd turned very slowly and leveled a glare at the younger man.

"If Your Majesty would read the reports as the Queen does, you would know that there was no way we could have prevented the fall of Mersedas at that time. Unless you believe we should have sacrificed the whole of the 3rd Battlemech Division, Your Majesty?" Daffyd replied acidly as he sat in one of the comfortable chairs that were about the room. His wife sat on the arm of the chair in such a fashion as to make it difficult for him to spring up out of the chair quickly.

"You should have done everything to stop this Clan Ghost Bear, not run like the cowards you are." He replied nastily.

Daffyd and his son Michael bristled at the insult. Before either could say anything, a young woman stepped forward from the shadows. Her battle fatigues showing that she was a Sergeant in the Army. She walked up and smacked him across the back of his head, causing him to glare up at her.

"Daddy, Mother and I explained to you everything in those reports, twice. The division commander made the decision to retreat based on the information he had at the time about what he was facing. What would you have done if facing numerical superiority as well as unknown weapons?" She asked innocently.

"The division should have held its ground." He insisted.

"So you propose that instead of loosing our best cavalry squadron, we lose one of our few divisions available to us?" Daffyd asked dangerously.

"Uncle, calm down. Dear I've explained the reasons to you before for the Army's actions. I'm asking you to not bad mouth them anymore. Now then, what did the General Staff have to say at yesterday's meeting?" The Queen interjected.

Daffyd grimaced, but nodded as he gathered his thoughts, his wife slowly rubbing the back of his neck to calm him down. "Well Natsumi-chan, some of it went as we expected, and without you stepping in as well. Personnel slated for the 1/1 will be receiving their orders on Monday. Our four problem children were exonerated and assigned as I was wanting." He told her.

"You mean that man is being let off despite being charged with cowardice?" His Majesty asked in stunned shock.

"Daddy!" The uniformed princess cried.

"Father, that's not fair!" Cried three other voices.

"Dear I've warned you before." Natsumi said softly.

All six of Daffyd's children glared at him, upset that their 'Uncle Samual' could bad mouth a man their father praised so highly.

Daffyd leveled a cold look at Samual, causing the younger man to shiver. "The original reports that we all saw were falsified. The real reports tell a completely different story." Daffyd stated calmly, trying to keep control of his temper.

"Really? If that's the case, then who doctored them?" Natsumi asked, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"According to Michaelson, it was a Captain Kodachi Kuno who did it. Legal is looking into it right now." Daffyd answered.

"I bet you tried to blame it on Michaelson, didn't you?" Samual accused.

Daffyd bristled suddenly but calmed down as his wife laid her hand on his shoulder. "Samual, even though Michaelson and I don't get along, I did not blame him at all for doctoring the records. The person who he identified is known to me. In fact she has a larger amount of hatred for Ranma than Michaelson ever had, and most likely ever will."

"Were any angry words exchanged at the meeting Uncle Daffyd?" Natsumi asked.

"Some were exchanged between Michaelson and Saotome, but that was to be expected. Other than that is was a calm meeting for once." Daffyd reported.

"Hey Uncle, is Ranma going to come on Wednesday like I asked?" The uniformed princess inquired.

"Yes Sara, he'll be here. Guess you miss being in the Army eh?" Daffyd asked her.

Sara blushed and nodded. "If there was some way I could end up working for Colonel Saotome, I would rejoin in a heartbeat, irregardless of what some people might wish." She said softly.

Samual's expression darkened as he glared at his daughter. "No daughter of mine will be associated with that man! This is exactly why I had you get out of the Army, its corrupting you!" He spat out.

Before anyone else said or did something else, Daffyd somehow got around his wife quickly and picked him up by his collar and held him in the air, his feet dangling above the ground. "I never want to hear you bad mouth one of the finest combat leaders we have ever again, is that understood!" Daffyd threatened softly.

"And what will you do if I do call him what I know him to be?" Samual asked as haughtily as he could.

Daffyd grinned evilly at him. "Then we'll do a repeat performance of the time you tried to stop Sara from joining the Army." He told him softly, almost as if he was talking to a lover.

Samual nodded frantically in agreement, remembering the beating that he had received at Daffyd's hands, as well as knowing that his wife wouldn't do a thing to help him if it came to that.

Daffyd let go of him gently and smiled at his uniformed niece. "I couldn't guarantee that, but you never know what might happen in life." He told her. He then turned to his Queen and smirked. "So besides Sara wanting to see her future husband, why did you want to meet with the four of them?"

Sara blushed madly at the idea, while Samual sputtered indignantly. Natsumi smiled a soft mysterious smile as she looked at her Uncle.

"Well I wanted to offer them my official thanks. I also wish to Knight all four for what they did on Mersedas. I'm also tempted to make Ranma a noble, but one thing at a time." She told them with a smile.

"Hmm, still got the hots for him eh Natsumi?" Daffyd's wife teased her.

Natsumi snorted as she glared at her. "Eli, you know that I grew out of that rapidly. Besides, it's time for the younger generation to deal with things." She said.

"Hmm, so you're leaving the seduction, marrying and begetting of his children to Sara then?" Eli prodded further, enjoying the rare chance to tease the royal couple.

Natsumi just shook her head with a grin. Samual looked like he was about to either explode or have a heart attack. Sara looked like she was about ready to die from embarrassment.

"I refuse to allow that to happen! My daughter will never marry the son of the Saotome family!" Samual declared hotly as he stood up suddenly and glared at Eli.

Sara stood there stunned at the words she was hearing. She couldn't believe that her father could hate someone like Ranma so much without having met him.

"Are you implying that if she chose to marry Ranma of her own free will, that you would disown her?" Eli asked slowly and dangerously.

Everyone else looked at Samual as he looked like a deer caught in the head lights of a run away grav car. Most of the expressions directed his way were scaring him spittless as they glared at him, promising that if he gave the wrong answer, massive amounts of pain would be visited upon his great personage.

"I would never do something like that." He replied very shakily.

Slowly the family meeting dissolved into a more relaxed atmosphere where most of the people enjoyed the time with each other. Although Samual bowed out not long after that to retreat to a safer location, while the three service members, being Daffyd, Michael and Sara, sat together to talk shop.

Location

Saotome Estate, Planet Manticore

Date

Sunday, 15th Day, 5th Month, 3045 TY

Time

1000 hours Local

After a late breakfast, Ranma, Genma and Nodoka were gathered around one of the coffee tables that were in various places of the house. Behind them, the sun was streaming in through the armorplast that formed the room's many windows.

All three were in a good mood as this had been the first time in years that they had been able to gather like this. With Ranma being stationed at Mersedas for the past four years, and Genma's work with the Home Guard, it kept the family separated for most of the time.

"So Son, how does it feel to be a free man once again?" Genma asked Ranma as he leaned forward.

"It feels pretty good Oyaji. I can't wait to get my next set of orders and get back into the swing of things." Ranma replied.

"Ahh yes, your assignment to the 1st Dragoons. I won't tell you anything specific, but it will challenge all of your abilities. Don't fail on this one Son. The whole Army and Kingdom will be watching you closely. Your new unit will be very high profile until you've proven the concept to the satisfaction of the General Staff and Parliament." Genma warned him.

Nodoka cleared her throat, drawing their attention to her. "If you boys are going to talk shop, could you at least talk about something that I can join in on?" She asked lightly, though her eyes flashed as she looked at Genma.

Genma ducked his head down in mock terror as he bowed repeatedly to his wife. "Yes dear. Anything you say dear. It will be as you asked dear." He said as he groveled to her.

Ranma snorted at his parent's antics as he looked over at his mother. He grinned at her and nodded in acknowledgement of her wishes. "So Mom, were you able to bring up the subject that we discussed yesterday?" He asked.

Genma looked confused, while Nodoka shook her head no gently.

Ranma signed and looked resigned before he turned to face Genma. "All right Pops. I have a request to make. Mom has heared it and approves, so all we need now is your approval for it to go through." Ranma said to him.

Genma looked cautiously at his son, wondering what he was talking about, as well as remembering the last time his son requested something from him, and all the trouble it caused him up at the General Staff. "Go ahead Son, I'm listening." He said slowly.

"I would like for our family to adopt Makoto Kino as my sister." Ranma stated his request.

"Why would I want to have her adopted into my family?" Genma asked.

Nodoka bristled in anger, not quite understanding Genma's motive. Ranma, knowing his father far better due to being trained by him, nodded as he organized his thoughts so he could present them properly to him.

"There are several reasons for adopting her into the family and clan. She is an excellent mechwarrior, whom I have had the pleasure of fighting beside and train. She is a good martial artist and should be capable of using Mother's Ki technology. There is also the fact that we care for one another like siblings. Mother has already called her daughter. The last reason to bring to your attention is the fact that her family has effectively disowned her. With her parents dead there was nothing to stop the rest of her Liberal Party family from effectively kicking her out for being in the military. She has no one to call family now because of their attitude towards anything military." Rnama said confidently to his father.

Genma looked thoughtful as he listened to reason after reason that his son gave. "Her extended family belongs to the Liberal Party?" Genma asked, to make sure that he heard correctly.

"Yup, card carrying and heavy donations and everything Pops." Ranma confirmed.

Genma's grin became something slightly evil. "Boy, I like the way you think. Michaelson is the best they got until she gets more rank, and you want to have her adopted!" Genma's expression was positively gleeful at the idea of pulling one out from under his rival.

"I hadn't thought of it from that angle yet." Ranma commented thoughtfully, but agreeing with his father. "So does this mean that we're adopting her?" He asked hopefully.

"Where is the datapad with the forms boy? I know you well enough to know that you've got it all ready so all I need to do is sign the bloody papers." Genma said with a grin.

Nodoka handed him the pad with a happy smile. "I'm proud of you dear." She told him softly as she kissed him lightly on the cheek.

Genma smirked as he signed in all the appropriate places. After he was finished, he hit the send button on the datapad that would send the information to the correct agencies and lawyer's offices before he set it down on the table.

"Well looks like our family just grew by one more." He said with a large grin.

"Thanks Pops! You won't regret this!" Ranma said with an equally large grin.

Nodoka just smiled and kissed Genma soundly. She then handed him the phone with a wink. "You really should call our daughter to let her know the good news dear." She told him.

Genma sighed as he took the phone and dialed the number that Ranma showed him. As it rang, Genma motioned for Ranma to get moving. Ranma raised an eyebrow at him and didn't move until Genma pointed at the still ringing phone and then at the door. Rnama's eyes popped open wide as he realized what his father meant and leapt up to leave.

"Take the LCT(2) Ranma." He said quickly just as the other end picked up.

"Hello?" A female voice on the other side said.

"Yes is this Makoto?" Genma asked politely.

"It is, may I ask who is calling?" She responded.

"Young lady, I expect you to be home tonight for dinner." Genma said with a light grin, earning him a smack to the back of his head from his wife.

"Umm, sir who are you and why do you think you can order me around?" She asked cautiously.

"I'm your father. Didn't my son and wife talk to you about this yesterday?" Genma countered, enjoying teasing her even though his wife was glaring at him for being so obtuse.

"General Saotome? Are you serious Sir? You agreed to adopting me into your family?" She asked hurriedly, trying no to get her hopes up too high in case this was all just a sick joke being played on her.

"I prefer a little less formality from my family when we're off duty daughter. Your brother just calls me pops." Genma told her with a snort. "And yes I'm serious! Why would I joke about something like this?"

"Okay Daddy. Umm, what about my things? If I'm going to be there tonight I don't know what to bring with me." She responded after a few seconds.

"Oh don't worry about that Makoto-chan, I sent Ranma with the family LCT to pick up all of your things, even the furniture if you want to keep it." He told her.

"Oh thank you Daddy! I can't thank you enough. I'll try my hardest to meet your expectations of me as a daughter and Saotome." Makoto cried happily.

"Just be yourself daughter and that will be enough for me and your mother. Its all we expect out of Ranma and look how he came out." Genma told her gently. "We'll see you in a few hours Makoto-chan."

"Okay Daddy. Thank you so much again. I'll see you at dinner." Makoto said as she hung up the phone.

Genma placed the phone down on the table and looked up at his wife. "I'm glad that we could make a difference in that girl's life. When she was going out with Ranma I did worry about her a bit." He said to her.

"I know what you mean dear, but now we can help her even more. You did a good thing today." Nodoka said with a smile as she kissed him again. "I should go get her room ready, as well as start making dinner then. A feast tonight?"

"Sounds like a wonderful idea No-chan. Lets invite all of their friends and a few of ours to celebrate the occasion." Genma said as he reached again for the phone.

While Genma started to call family and friends, Nodoka went upstairs to start preparing a room for their new daughter.

TBC

Most liberals, both in this story and in reality, are anti-military. So it figures that Daffyd would have a problem with them. With his niece's husband being one, it has a tendency to spark a lot of arguments due to their beliefs. Lucky for the military his Niece is a firm supporter of a strong military.

LCT= Light Cargo Truck, Nomenclature M-1065, it's a 35 ton wheeled vehicle. If you want the stats on it, email me at cptdave81 yahoo . com. And I'll send them too you as a .txt file.

Well that's it for that chapter. Lots done in this one! Sorry it took me so long to get this one posted, but with the way the army is I'm just happy to have been able to post as much as I have already, much less have the time to have written so much! Ch.6 is almost complete already and should be in beta mode sometime in the next week or so, I hope.

As always, comments, questions, criticisms and flames are always welcome, though flames will be used to keep us warm as winter is starting to set in.

Until Chapter 6: A Meeting of Co-Workers

This is Captain Dave signing off!

BattleTech Vehicle Technical Readout

VALIDATED

Type/Model: Light Cargo Truck M-1068

Tech: Mixed Tech / 3050

Config: Wheeled Tractor

Rules: Level 3, Standard design

Mass: 35 tons

Power Plant: 220 GM XL Fusion (C)

Cruise Speed: 32.4 km/h

Maximum Speed: 54.0 km/h

Armor Type: StarSlab/3 Ferro-Fibrous

Armament:

1 ER Medium Laser (C)

1 Cargo Lift Hoist(C)

Manufacturer: General Dynamics Land Systems

Location: Gryphon

Communications System: (Unknown)

Targeting & Tracking System: (Unknown)

==Overview:==

First designed and produced in 2782, this truck is a workhorse transport.

While very few went with the Manticore expedition, the designs for it and

several other vehicles did go. A sturdy design that has seen more use than

any other design produced within the Kingdom at this time, the M-1068 hasn't

changed much since it was first produced. The latest version upgraded the

weapons and armor, making it an even more effective combat transport.

==Capabilities:==

With a top speed of only 54 kph, the M-1068 isn't going to win any racing

competions. Its true capabilities lie in the amount of cargo it can carry.

Able to carry thirteen tons of cargo in an armored compartment, the design can

carry an additional thirty-five tons in an unprotected flatbed behind the main

cabin. The cargo hoist in the back of the vehicle can lift cargo out of

either the flatbed or the armored cargo hold, and is rated for a lifting

capacity of up to six tons. The design's single extended range medium laser

was added as an after thought, when the Royal Army had the armor upgraded to

the new ferro-fiberous armor some twenty years ago.

==Variants:==

While military doctrine dictates that traditional armored vehicles and

transport vehicles are not to be modified, there are several variants out

there. Most are produced for civilian purchase, to include dropping most, if

not all, of the armor in favor of more cargo space, as well as losing the

medium laser. Police forces use a variant that turns the cargo area into a

combination troop carrier for what amounts to a whole infantry platoon, plus a

couple of jail cells for any criminals that are captured.

==Deployment==

Like any good light transport vehicle, there isn't a group that doesn't have

at least one M-1068. Even the police use them from time to time to transport

their S.W.A.T. teams.

Type/Model: Light Cargo Truck M-1068

Mass: 35 tons

Construction Options: Fractional Accounting

Equipment: Items Mass

Int. Struct.: 20 pts Standard 0 3.50

Engine: 220 XL Fusion 1 5.00

Shielding & Transmission Equipment: 0 2.50

Cruise MP: 3

Flank MP: 5

Heat Sinks: 10 Single 0 .00

Cockpit & Controls: 0 1.75

Crew: 3 Members 0 .00

Turret Equipment: 0 .10

Armor Factor: 96 pts Ferro-Fibrous (C) 1 5.00

Internal Armor

Structure Value

Front: 4 29

Left / Right Sides: 4 19/19

Rear: 4 13

Turret: 4 16

Weapons and Equipment Loc Heat Ammo Items Mass

1 ER Medium Laser (C) Turret 5 1 1.00

1 Cargo Lift Hoist (C) Rear 0 1 3.00

1 C.A.S.E. Equipment Body 0 .00

1 Trailer Hitch Rear 1 .00

Cargo Bay Capacity Body 1 13.15

TOTALS: 5 6 35.00

Items & Tons Left: 6 .00

Calculated Factors:

Total Cost: 2,803,942 C-Bills

Battle Value 2: 385 (old BV = 197)

Cost per BV: 7,282.97

Weapon Value: 122 / 122 (Ratio = .32 / .32)

Damage Factors: SRDmg = 6; MRDmg = 4; LRDmg = 0

BattleForce2: MP: 3W, Armor/Structure: 0 / 4

Damage PB/M/L: 1/1/-, Overheat: 0

Class: GL; Point Value: 4

Specials: tran13


	7. Chapter 6

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, because if I did, I wouldn't be in the military, I'd be living the high life right now. Instead, I'm a poor, hard working soldier just trying to enjoy life.

**Jerry Unipeg: **Thank you very much. I thought I would make a kinder, gentler Genma for this one. His character had so much potential. Yeah I've always thought that Makoto should have a family, and this proved to be the perfect opportunity to do that. Thanks on Samual, again it's the whole Liberal thing.

**Nysk:** Your welcome. Hope to get more out soon too.

**Sowhatimlate:** Glad you do love it, hope you like this one too.

**Ranger5:** Thanks, I've got lots of plans for how this will develop. Plot twists and different characters are a favorite thing of mine.

**James Axelrad:** Well here is more then!! Hope you like this one too.

Author's Notes: Well here is the next installment of the story. Things are hectic over here, so I'm a little slower than I would have liked. We're nearing the end of our tour in Iraq so I've been even more busy than normal!! Hope you all like this new chapter!

I've gotten more votes!! Here is the poll now

Ryoko (Tenchi): 1

Washu (Tenchi): 1

Xian Pu (Ranma): 1

Setsuna (Sailor Moon): 1

Micheru (Sailor Moon): 1

Wow, its neck and neck on this. The polls are still open for voting, you can email me or post it as a comment. Email is cptdave81 yahoo .com if you're interested. Also If anyone wants statistics on any vehicle email me. I'll send you them no problem.

Now on with the Story!!

Chapter 6: A Meeting of Co-Workers

Location: Fort McWilliams Army Base outside Capitol City, Planet Manticore

Date: Monday, 16th Day, 5th Month, 3045 TY

Time: 0900 Local

As the anti-grav car approached the gate Ranma and friends read the sign at the side of the road.

Welcome to

Fort McWilliams

Home of the

Screaming Eagles

They passed through the entry checkpoint with ease, having been waved through by someone who recognized the Saotome crest that was on the car, and made their way into the base. They drove past motor pools where tanks and other vehicles were stored and maintained by diligent mechanics. They drove passed many of the great 'mech hangars and watched the mechwarriors aid their mechanics in the maintaining of their machines. They passed barracks building and support structures galore where soldiers were marching around and going about the business of running such a large facility as Fort McWilliams.

As they continued to drive, they approached a large, well defended building, where they were stopped by yet another checkpoint. Unlike the entrance to the base, this checkpoint was manned by armed infantry and supported by one M-45 Blizzard Infantry Fighting Vehicle and one M-28 Vedette Medium Tank. As they pulled up into the checkpoint, they were made to get out of the vehicle so that the soldiers could thoroughly search the vehicle for anything that shouldn't be in there. As the vehicle was searched, they too were searched by yet another soldier. Eventually all the checks were finished and they were allowed to reenter their car and enter the small compound.

As they approached the building, which rose a mere two stories over the three story defensive wall that surrounded it, the four companions all thought about how intimidating it looked, though not as intimidating in their eyes as the Saotome home was. Ranma quickly found a parking spot, as close to the building as he could get, before they all got out.

Ranma looked them all over and nodded in satisfaction at how sharp and correct they all looked. He glanced at his watch and grinned, it was only 0930, which meant that they still had half an hour before their appointment with General McKay.

"Come on guys, let's get going. It never hurts to be early to a meeting with your new Commanding General." He told them.

"Lead the way then Sir." Tenchi said with a slight grin.

Everyone grinned at each other as they started to walk to the building. Yesterday evening they had all received their new orders, as well as this request for a personal meeting with General McKay. As they entered the building, and went through yet another search, they marveled at the complexity of the building's interior. From this building was run the most elite division in the whole Army, not even the units of the Home Guard could compete with the 101st. And now they were about to become a part of that unit. They all realized that with this new posting and what they had said that Friday night that they were going to be with this unit for a very long time. They had almost sworn an Oath of Fealty (1) to General McKay that night, and had they worded it slightly differently they would now be under his employ, though still paid by the Army.

As they followed the instructions of the secretary that was at the entrance, they remained silent, each on thinking about the future and what might happen to them in this new unit. Things were starting to look up, but there was always the chance for something to come along and foul it all up for them.

When they arrived at the General's office, Ranma knocked politely on the door. When they entered it was to a comfortably furnished waiting room, rather than the General's office. A secretary sat next to a door that was across the room, typing away at her computer.

Ranma and Company approached her desk and Ranma gently cleared his throat, drawing her attention away from her work and to Ranma.

"How can I help you Sir?" She asked politely.

Ranma took a quick glance down at her uniform to notice her rank before he replied. "Yes, we're here for a meeting with General McKay, Sergeant. Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome, Captain Makoto Saotome, Captain Tenchi Misaki, and Sergeant Angus McRory." He said to her.

The sergeant opened a small book next to her elbow and flipped through it until she found the page that she needed. She looked down the list of times and names to see if they were indeed supposed to be having a meeting with her General. Nodding in satisfaction of her research, she closed the book and pressed a button on her desk.

"Yes Sergeant?" Came Daffyd's voice over the intercom implanted in her desk.

"Your ten hundred meeting has arrived Sir." She informed him

"Ahh, perfect! Send them in please." He told her.

"At once Sir. Oh and don't let the meeting run too long Sir, you have a lunch appointment with General Sanders, his wife and yours at noon." She reminded him.

"Thank you Marget, I won't forget." Daffyd said soothingly before he broke contact.

The Sergeant looked up at Ranma with a slight frown. "Sir, please keep him on track. General Sanders told me that this meeting was important, and I don't want to bear the brunt of his being late to it." She requested.

"I think we can do that Sergeant." Ranma replied as they moved to the door. Ranma opened the door to reveal the office of General McKay.

Inside was a modest, yet comfortable office. The General sat at his desk, but around the room on a couple of couches and chairs were several other people.

The first to be seen was a man who rivaled Ranma's height and Angus's girth. His uniform looked impeccable and he bore the rank of Major next to his Mechwarrior branch insignia. His dark hair was cut short and his dark brown eyes seemed to radiate menace and kindness at the same time.

Beside him on the couch sat a regal looking woman. Her deep purple hair, while different, wasn't as much of a shock to most of the group as it might have been. Her uniform was exquisitely tailored, and the manner in which she carried herself, even seated, screamed noble, yet her rank of Major and Armor branch insignia showed that she was skilled.

Beside her, and the final person on that couch, was a young Second Lieutenant. She was so new that all the vets could tell that she still squeaked. Her light blue hair and deep red eyes were a bit more different than most and caused a couple of eyebrows to be raised. Even though her uniform was just as well tailored as the first woman's, she bore an expression of mischief, rather than one of nobility. Her eyes sparkled with amusement, as if some joke was being played on the four friends. Her Aviation branch insignia clued Ranma into the fact that she was a pilot and therefore prone to practical jokes and mischief.

On a second couch sat three more women. The first on the far left was a short red haired woman whose hair refused to not be spiky. Her formal uniform almost looked like an engineer's outfit rather than what it was supposed to be, and she seemed to be distracted with something. On her shoulders she bore the rank of Major and the engineer branch insignia.

To the right was a taller cyan haired woman, whose hair followed her companion's. Her uniform gave the appearance of being rumpled while looking perfect. All three of the mechwarriors pinned her as one of them as she was sprawled out without a care, as if her mere rank of Captain would make her immune to retribution.

Next to her was an immaculately dressed woman. Her darker blue hair almost shined as she looked up from the reader that was in her hands. Her Armor branch insignia marked her as different from most people, and combined with her rank of Captain, said that she was determined to advance.

Beside that couch was a small love seat that had two people sitting in it. These two, despite being in uniform and in the presence of a general, were all but snuggling with each other. One was a tall man with long dark hair. His uniform was perfect and his rank of Major in the Intelligence branch made the four think that this was not a man to cross. The woman who was curled up to his side, and all but asleep, had long purple hair. She looked like a sleeping tiger, yet still ready to pounce at a moments notice. Her uniform collar told everyone that she was in the Infantry and a First Lieutenant.

"Please, pull up a chair and have a seat everyone." General McKay said as he waved at the four new arrivals.

The four sat down in some of the chairs about the room, as the man in the love seat gently woke the woman up. "Good, aside from medical we're all here now."

"Excuse me Sir, but I thought this was just going to be a meeting between the five of us." Ranma said as he looked at everyone.

"Well, it was initially, but then I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce some of your officers to you." Daffyd told him.

Ranma nodded to him as the four looked at him expectantly.

Daffyd smiled as he went around the circle, introducing everyone there.

"This is your new executive officer, Major Ryoga Habiki." Ryoga nodded to Ranma in greeting. "Been a long time Ranma." Ranma nodded in reply.

"Next to him is Major Ayeka Jurai, your new operations officer." Ayeka inclined her head respectfully to Ranma. "It's an honor to serve with you Sir."

"Next is the top helicopter pilot to graduate from the Academy since its creation, Second Lieutenant Sasami Jurai." Sasami waved with a cheerful grin. The others smiled at her greeting and waved back.

"Over here we have Major Washu Hakubi, an extremely skilled engineer and the one in charge of all your maintenance teams." Washu blinked owlishly as the General's words broke through her thoughts.

"Beside her is one of your new company commanders, Captain Ryoko Hakubi." Ryoko smirked and winked at Ranma, causing him to blush lightly and Makoto to glare at her.

"Last on that couch is Captain Ami Mizuno, your other company commander." Ami smiled shyly at everyone, but waved lightly to Makoto who waved back.

"On the love seat is your new intelligence officer, Major Mu Tsu Liao, and his wife First Lieutenant Xian Pu Liao." The two smiled and nodded to the four others.

With the introductions finished, Ranma smiled at everyone that he would be working with before he looked at Daffyd and cleared his throat.

"Umm, Sir, if we could discuss your intentions for this unit as well as our MTOE (2). Also do you know when I'll be receiving troops? I'd like to get started on training as soon as possible." Ranma said.

"All right Colonel. What I intend to use this unit for is both simple and complicated at the same time. This unit will be dropped anywhere from three months to a year before the Division makes an assault on a planet. The purpose is to disrupt the enemy and hamper their fighting capability both before and then during the invasion." Daffyd explained.

"That sounds like a tall order Sir. It's almost impossible to land on any planet covertly." Ami spoke up hesitantly.

"That is true, at least it used to be true. There is now a system that is in production that can turn a dropship or warship all but invisible to sensors and the naked eye. Your battalion will be equipped with seven said dropships along with a warship to carry you from system to system." Daffyd answered her.

"Sir, you have given us the how, but we still do not know with what we are to accomplish our given mission." Ayeka said softly.

"My apologies Major. The Battalion consists of four combat companies and a headquarters and headquarters company. Each combat company has four Battlemech Platoons, four Tank Platoons, one Helicopter Platoon, one Aerospace Fighter Flight, two Infantry Platoons, one Artillery Platoon, one Air Defense Artillery Platoon, plus support assets to include medical, transport, maintenance, and engineers. The HHC (3) has the majority of the support resources plus some combat units to defend them. Along with the seven dropships, one warship, plus any embarked fighters aboard the warship." Daffyd replied.

Everyone looked impressed at the amount of assets they would have available to them.

"Wow, that's a lot of combat power you're giving us Sir. It's going to be tough to get such a unit to work together though." Ranma commented.

"Indeed it will be Colonel, but that is why all of you have been chosen for your slots. The Army has faith that all of you will do extremely well in this unit. In fact, all of you have the best chance of making this work as I'm hoping it will." Daffyd said to them all.

"We are all deeply honored by your faith in us Sir." Ayeka said formally.

"Now then, your troops are being transferred as we speak. Within four moths your unit should be completely gathered together. Also, some of your mechs and vehicles will be equipped with experimental things. The Army decided, against my wishes, that your unit will also field test any new equipment and vehicles as it comes out. We've got several brand new vehicles that will be assigned to you. The first is a new assault class tank, code named the McArthur. It's a command and control vehicle. According to the specs it carries a Mobile HQ plus five of the new improved C3 systems. You'll also be receiving a small number of new Air Defense tanks, code named Artemis. From what the engineers have been saying it can lay down a lot of flak, enough to deter even one of our bombers from making a run." Daffyd told them.

While some winced at the idea that they would be using untested equipment, Washu, Sasami and Ranma all looked eager to seeing the new things that the Army was giving them to play with.

"Is there anything else Sir?" Ranma asked politely.

Daffyd looked thoughtful for a few seconds before he shook his head. "No Colonel, not at this time. Go get better acquainted with your new officers." He said as he stood up.

Everyone stood up after him, Xian a little slower than the rest as she had to wait for Mu to stand up first. Ranma saluted for them all, then shook the General's hand before they all left quietly.

As they walked out, the Sergeant looked up at them, surprise written on her face. Never before had a meeting run so short. She was used to interrupting her boss's meetings so that she could remind him of things that he needed to do.

'Maybe this Colonel will be a good influence on him. Then maybe his wife won't yell at me too much.' She thought with a slight shudder at the idea of facing off against Eli McKay.

"So, where are we going to go Sir?" Tenchi asked.

"I was thinking we could head over to the Sports Club for lunch and get to know one another then." Ranma replied as the left the building.

"New CO gets to pay for the first meal!!" Ryoko said loudly with a grin on her face.

"Captain Hakubi, how can you suggest such a thing?! Actions like that are against the regulations! Are you wanting for our new colonel to get into trouble again?" Ayeka exclaimed in shock as they walked across the parking lot.

Makoto cleared her throat, drawing the Major's attention to her. "Actually Major Jurai, it has long been a tradition within the Army that a new battalion commander does take his new officers to lunch and pays for it. Despite what regulations state, the Saotome family has always maintained that tradition." She stated clearly.

Ayeka bristled at the challenge in Makoto's voice. "Captain, I suggest that you speak in a far more respectful tone of voice to me in the future. I not only out rank you here in uniform, but socially as well." She said with a little bit of anger in her voice.

Ranma and Makoto looked at each other and started to laugh while Tenchi just shook his head and sighed. 

"Major, her tone was respectful to one of your military rank, as for social rank, I know for a fact that Makoto shares the same view of nobility as Ranma does." Tenchi told her.

"And what view is that Captain Misaki?" Ami asked politely.

"Most nobility sit on their asses and talk a lot, but do very little to improve things or solve problems. In fact most of the current problems from within the Kingdom are a result in the bungling that the nobility has done over the past few decades." Tenchi answered.

"How can you think that?! Our nobility does its best to improve the life of our citizens." Ayeka asked in stunned shock.

Ranma looked over his shoulder at Ayeka and gently shook his head. "You have much to learn young one." Ranma intoned softly as they approached their cars.

They were all quiet as they got into various vehicles and followed Ranma as he headed to the Sports Club, a bar/restaurant on base. When they got to the Sports Club, Ranma led the way inside. They walked inside and stopped at the hostess's area and waited to be helped.

"How can I help you today Sir?" The young woman at the entrance asked politely.

Ranma smiled softly at her. "Yes Ma'am, we'd like to use the Saotome room for lunch today." He told her.

"I'm sorry Sir, but we don't have a Saotome room." She said to him.

Ranma looked annoyed at her. "Ma'am, there is a Saotome room, only the Saotome family uses it." Ranma said, his annoyance creeping into his voice.

"Sir, I'm sorry, but there is no Saotome room here at the Sports Club. I don't know what led you to believe that there was one." She responded calmly.

Ranma started to become angry and was about to start yelling when Makoto laid a hand on his shoulder. Ranma looked at her and she shook her head and motioned for him to stand aside. Ranma nodded and stepped back, allowing her to come before the young hostess.

"How long have you been working at the Sports Club Ma'am?" Makoto asked politely.

The young woman looked back up at them, relief evident in her face. "I just started today." She answered.

"Then it is safe to assume you haven't been given the special guest orientation yet?" Makoto inquired.

The young woman nodded sheepishly, embarrassed to admit that she wasn't fully trained yet.

"Could you please call someone who has been working here for a while then?" Makoto requested in a polite, yet firm tone.

The young woman nodded as she pressed a button on her stand. Not a few minutes later an older looking woman suddenly appeared next to them.

"Yes how can I…..Oh Ranma! It's been far too long!" She said as she hugged him suddenly.

"Heya Konatsu! Still dressing like normal eh? Thought Uchan broke you of that habit." Ranma teased as he returned the hug.

"Oh you! I'm allowed to dress like this once a week now. But how have you been? We heard you got into some trouble, again." Konatsu said with a smile.

"I'm doing well. Is the room available for lunch? I've got a new command team to treat to lunch." Ranma explained.

"Of course Ranma, the Saotome Room is always open to you." Konatsu answered him.

"Hey Ko-chan, you might want to think about giving you workers the special guest instructions before they start working next time." Makoto said to Konatsu.

Konatsu had the grace to look embarrassed as he nodded. He then led them to a lavishly appointed room that was off to the side of the main dining area. The people currently eating there wondered who they were to rate such a treatment of getting the Club's only private room. Inside were chairs that were extremely comfortable, and there was a small kitchen set up inside the room as well. Everyone moved to take their seats around the large central table. Before they sat Ranma cleared his throat. Once he had everyone's attention, he took off his coat and laid it on a bench that was near the door.

"Within this room there is no rank, no social standing, nothing. Only respect for your fellow warriors. Speak your mind, throw blows, whatever you feel you need to do. Nothing that happens in this room shall leave this room, no consequences, no punishments. The removal of your jacket symbolizes the fact that we are all the same here." He told them.

Everyone followed Ranma in removing their jackets, though Ayeka did so very reluctantly. From there they all sat down and settled in for lunch.

"So what's for lunch Ranma?" Ryoga asked.

"Whatever the chef chooses to make man. You know how she is." Ranma replied.

"True. Its been a long time since I've had cooking this good!" Ryoga agreed.

"Well if you dropped by more often Mom would gladly make you something you idiot!" Ranma said with a grin.

"If I had the time I would visit more often you moron!" Ryoga responded with a grin as well.

Ayeka stared in shock, not quite believing what she was hearing as the door opened again, admitting Konatsu and a beautiful brown haired woman in a chef's outfit.

When she saw Ranma her expression lit up with joy. "Ranchan!! Its been too long!!" She cried out as she rushed around the table and gave him a huge hug. "Where have you been? Auntie wouldn't tell me anything! You have a lot of explaining to do mister!" She said rapidly as she let go of him and backed up.

"Its good to see you too Uchan. I'll explain it all later, promise. How about some lunch, we're all starved and we got a lot to work out today." Ranma told her.

"Right, no problem at all Ranchan." She said with a large grin. "Konatsu, go get more ingredients! We're making the Ranchan Special today!!"

Konatsu half saluted her and left to get the requested items while Ukyo fired up the kitchen and started to cook up a storm.

"Well seeing as introductions have already taken place, we'll just open the floor to any questions that everyone might have." Ranma stated.

"Ranma, how the hell are we going to get such a wide range of units like this to actually work together?" Ryoko asked.

"Lots of hard work and training. From an email I received from our Fearless Leader, We will have roughly three years to get everything ready. And that's only because the Navy is scratch building us our dropships and warship." Ranma said.

"Do you know what kind of units we'll be receiving?" Ami asked.

"Mech wise it'll be what ever they can cut loose for us. Combat vehicles, I expect mostly tracks with some wheel and hover for variety, but models I can't help you with." Ranma told them.

"This is going to be a crap load of work!" Ryoga exclaimed.

"Tell me about it! And I have to manage all the maintenance platoons in the battalion!" Washu said in exasperation.

"What about helicopters and fighters? Do you think we'll get a decent amount of combat birds?" Sasami asked excitedly.

Ayeka stared at her sister in shock, clearly unsettled by how casual everyone was acting.

"Not really. I guess you'll have to wait and see Sasami." Ryoga said with a grin.

As they talked the first of many dishes seemed to appear before them all. The wonderful smells that wafted up to their noses made their stomachs growl in hunger. Everyone dug in, enjoying the quality of the food.

"So when did you get married Ranma?" Mu Tsu asked suddenly when they were between dishes.

From the kitchen came a loud clang, while several people at he table started choking on food or drink.

"Married!?! You got married and didn't have the courtesy to invite your best friend!! You bastard!!" Ukyo yelled at him from the kitchen as she threw a shuriken-spatula at Ranma.

Ranma dodged the spatula and glared at Mu. "I'm not married Mu Tsu." He said bluntly.

"Then why does Makoto share your name? All of us who know you knew how close the two of you are." He countered.

Makoto finally cleared her throat enough to talk as she gasped out. "Brother….he's my brother."

"Brother? Wow, I sure didn't expect that one at all." Ryoga commented.

"That is going to cause all sorts of problems for this unit." Ayeka commented.

"What do you mean Ayeka?" Tenchi asked.

"She is his sister, he's going to favor her over the other company commanders. She'll get away with things that none of the rest of us could! Like how she's been flirting with a noncom since we got here. Her casual address of people who out rank her or hold a higher position socially!" Ayeka ranted.

"Miss Jurai,, I am professional enough to know when to treat her like my sister, and when to treat her like my subordinate." Ranma said almost coldly.

"And besides that, the relationship between Angus and I is just that, between the two of us. It was forged in the fires on Mersedas, and no little princess personality is going to ruin what we have." Makoto said as she leveled a glare at Ayeka.

Ayeka sputtered in anger until Tenchi laid a hand on her shoulder. "Ayeka, you need to understand that the four of us went through hell on Mersedas. We formed bonds that no one, except for those that have seen combat, understand. The relationship between the two of them has been approved of at the highest levels." Tenchi told her.

"But it's not proper! And a person of her lineage should know that and know better." Ayeka said, trying to hold onto the moral high ground.

Sasami sighed as she looked at her sister. "Ayeka, just drop it. Not everything is as black and white as you'd like it to be." She said in exasperation.

"Here, here!" Chimed in Ryoko.

"Umm, does anyone know who our First Sergeants or XO's will be, much less where we're based?" Ami asked suddenly.

"Hey, you guys that new unit we've been hearing about Ranchan?" Ukyo asked from her kitchen.

"Yeah we are, why?" Ranma asked.

"Well I've had a few senior noncoms come in and they were complaining about moving to the back end of the Fort where this new unit would be based." She answered.

"You happen to hear a building number Uchan?" Ryoga asked hopefully.

"Umm, I didn't but maybe Konatsu-kun did." Ukyo said, a little disappointed that she couldn't help her friends out more.

"I did indeed hear more Ukyo-sama." Konatsu said from right behind Ami.

"Eeep!! Don't do that!!" Ami exclaimed in surprise as she spun around.

"My apologies Mizuno-san. I'll try to remember to tell you if I'm behind you." Konatsu said with a small smile.

"Well if you've heard something, what is it man?" Ryoko asked.

Everyone stared at Konatsu, waiting eagerly for word on where they were to be stationed.

"Well I heard a First Sergeant complaining about having to move her mech and set up at Motorpool 1 and set up her company office at Building 2." Konatsu said quickly.

"Motorpool 1 and Building 2? Damn that's out in the boondocks of the base!" Ryoga complained.

"Isn't that where they field test all the newest mechs and vehicles?" Sasami asked.

"Yes it is! It has the most up to date equipment in that motorpool! I can't wait to see what I get to play with now!" Washu said excitedly.

"Is there an airfield there too? I have to keep my girls in shape and it wouldn't do for them to have to travel a good distance by truck to get on our birds." Xian said.

"Oh yes! In fact we almost have a fully capable spaceport! We should have enough space for every helicopter, aerospace fighter, shuttle, bomber and dropship we own parked there and serviced as well!" Said an excited Washu.

"Well seeing as we are all there truly is to the battalion right now, I declare that after lunch you are free to go. We'll get back together again tomorrow at 0630 at our new headquarters. Come dressed for heavy cleaning and painting." Ranma told them.

"But that is the work of the lower enlisted!" Ayeka complained.

"Hello! Earth to little miss princess, we don't have any lower enlisted, so guess who has to do it!" Ryoko countered hotly.

Ayeka fumed but nodded. Slowly the members of the 1st Dragoons left for home until just the original four were left. Ukyo approached them and sat next to Ranma.

"So Ranchan, do you have an official chef yet?" She asked.

"Well not yet, why?" He asked in return.

"Well Ko-kun and I still have our uniforms somewhere, and we're willing to come and work for you." She told him.

"You'd rejoin the Army to work with me again?" Ranma asked, touched that they would do that for him.

"Heaven's no! We'd swear Oaths of Fealty to you." She explained with a slight laugh.

"But I'm not a knight, nor a noble. I can't accept those kinds of oats from you until I am." Ranma told her.

"Then we'll just work for you and give you those oaths when you are able to accept them Ranma." She told him.

"You aren't going to budge on this issue are you?" Ranma asked in resignation.

"Nope not a bit Ranchan!" Ukyo said cheerfully.

"All right. I'll accept your offer then." He said.

"Great, we'll see you tomorrow bright and early then. We'll even bring breakfast with us!" She told him.

TBC

End Authors Notes: Well that ends yet another chapter! Whew that one took me a while to write down.

1st Note: An Oath of Fealty is something that a military person swears to either a Knight of the Realm or a nobleman. Once sworn, they continue in the Army as their rank, but remain in the service of the one they swore the oath to. The only way the Army can move them to a different unit is if the person who holds that Oath gives permission for the move to happen. It makes for a complicated, yet surprisingly effective military force.

2nd Note: MTOE or Military Table of Organization and Equipment, which is the list of people and equipment that a unit has.

3rd Note: HHC or Headquarters and Headquarters Company, this company contains the Headquarters elements and staff, as well as all the major support elements for the battalion, such as recovery, heavy maintenance, medical and in some units, recon.

Well I hope you liked this chapter. Don't know when the next one will be up, damn Army keeps messing with my time schedule so I never know when I'll get the free time to do more writing.

As always, comments are welcome, flames will be used to keep me warm on the cold desert nights.

Until the Next Chapter, Chapter 7: Vengeance or Friendship

This is Captain Dave signing off!


	8. Chapter 7

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: I do not own the things that I write here. Well at least not most of them. There are a couple of things that I do, but it was mostly thought up during times of massive tiredness. That which I don't own, I pay homage to those that do, and give them great respect and honor for the great works that they have done.

Authors Notes: Well here I go again! I guess I'm lucky to be cranking out so many chapters like this! Voting for who Ranma might end up with is a little slow, but hey that's cool! We're coming up on the real meat of the story soon. Another couple of chapters (I hope) and we'll move into the training of the Wild Horses! Thanks for all the reviews! I've started to reply via rather than on the story. Stats are always available for reading, just let me know and I'll send them to you via email as .txt's.

Here is the voting stance right now.

Ryoko (Tenchi): 1

Washu (Tenchi): 1

Xian Pu (Ranma): 1

Setsuna (Sailor Moon): 1

Micheru (Sailor Moon): 1

Sasami (T M)/Ami (SM)/Sara: 1

Wow, a three for one guy vote eh? Might happen. Its possible given the Honorverse! Guess we'll just have to wait and see what I cook up as I write.

Well on with the chapter!

Chapter 7: Vengeance or Friendship

Location

First Sergeant Haruka Ten'oh's Quarters

Capitol City, Planet Manticore

Date

Tuesday, 17th Day, 5th Month, 3045 TY

Time

0430 hours Local

Haruka awoke the same way she had been since the fall of Mersedas. Not to the blaring noise of her alarm clock, but in a cold sweat from the nightmare of her lover being dead. She glanced wearily at her clock and grunted at the time. There was no point in going back to sleep as she had to be up in another hour anyway.

"Might as well get up." She murmured to herself.

As she crawled out of her lonely bed, she looked fondly at the picture that sat on her bed side table. It was a picture of her and an aqua haired beauty standing next to the foot of a Locust battlemech. She could easily remember the day it had been taken as if it were yesterday.

It had been when she was a young private many years back. Her mech had broken down during a field exercise, leaving her stranded while the rest of her platoon went on with the mission. Micheru had been one of the mechanics who had come out on the M-88. In fact it had been her that had found the faulty leg actuator that had caused her to fall behind, and it had been her who had replaced it right there in the field, despite the senior mechanic saying they should bring it back to the rear.

At the time, she had been extremely grateful for the efforts of the young mechanic. She had nervously offered to treat Micheru to dinner when the field problem was finished. Much to her amazement, Micheru had shyly accepted the invitation.

Before the repair track left to go to the next mech, the senior mechanic wanted to take a picture of the first mech to break down in the field problem. He had Haruka and Micheru stand side by side next to one of the mech's feet and carefully took the picture. He had been kind enough to give Haruka a copy of it when they got back to base, saying that they looked good together.

But that had been many years ago. Now her lover was Missing In Action. Most likely she was dead on Mersedas, along with Usagi, Minako, Rei and many others. Thankfully her adopted niece was in flight school when it all went down. She had something to concentrate on that would distract her from the pain of loosing her aunt.

Herself, Ami and her cousin Setsuna had all gone to the graduation ceremony on Friday. Although Hotaru's orders had changed the following day. Instead of a nice posting with the Home Guard, as befits her position of second in her class, she was heading for some new unit that the Army was making.

As Haruka finished her morning wake up ritual, to include downing half a pot of black coffee, she vowed once more that both Ranma Saotome and Clan Ghost Bear would pay dearly for all the suffering they had caused her and her friends.

She herself had just recently received new orders as well. Though why she was going to be a first sergeant for a brand new company at the back ass end of no where on Fort McWilliams was beyond her. Just the travel time alone made her grumble in annoyance as she thought about how she'd have to wake up even earlier than normal to make it to work on time. She had pulled some strings yesterday when she had gotten the orders, and was now cleared out of her old unit. She really hated leaving her old unit. Being the First Sergeant of Alpha Troop, 1-2 Cavalry had been a blast, and she knew she was leaving her CO in a lurch.

Even though her report date wasn't for another week, she had decided to go and take a look at her new billet. Most likely the buildings were run down and she'd have to get started on bringing them up to her standard. It was going to be a lot of hard work over the next week or so until troops started to arrive, but at least it would keep her mind off of more depressing things.

She had no clue who her new battalion commander was going to be, but whoever it was would be getting a pleasant surprise if she was able to finish before he arrived. She also hoped that whoever it was wasn't an asshole. Her last battalion commander had thought that he was God's gift to women, and it had taken all of her will power to not deck the man on sight. Thankfully he had been relieved for cause and then reduced in rank down to a mere captain again. And all because he couldn't keep from harassing anything female and in uniform. It had been a handful of young female enlisted soldiers that had turned him in to the brigade commander about five months after he arrived at the unit. Not even his general of a father had been able to save him from getting punished.

As her thoughts turned to the pleasant idea of that pervert getting his due, she put on her uniform. She then grabbed a small gym bag that had some sturdy civilian clothes in them, her cleaning house clothes.

She left her apartment and locked the door, double checking it on instinct, before she wondered down the building and got into her car. She just _knew_ that whoever her new commander would be, they would be a hundred times better than her last one. As she merged with the early morning traffic that was going onto the base, she thought of her one friend that had survived Mersedas.

Makoto must have had enormous luck to have survived the hell that it must have been, especially with that _man_ as her battalion commander. How she can stand the man was quite beyond Haruka. She truly didn't understand why Makoto wanted to be with such a womanizing pervert.

Haruka snarled as she recalled that Mr. Saotome had no fewer than six fiancés at one time. Despite what he publicly stated, she knew that the pervert enjoyed the attention he got from them.

Haruka had tried her best to warn Makoto about him, but she just didn't listen to her. Now she was going to go to jail with him, and all because she had to be in his unit!

As she passed through the main gate, the guard's respectful and diligent attitudes improved her mood greatly. It always cheered her up when she saw soldiers doing their jobs properly. It showed that they truly cared for their job, no matter what it was.

She finally started to relax as she traveled through the largest army base in the Kingdom. Fort McWilliams had been her home for the bulk of her military career. First when she was in one of the two Home Guard regiments that were stationed there, then with the 101st Planetary Assault Division.

Now she was headed to the ones spot where she hadn't been her entire career. Very few were lucky enough to go to Building 1. That area was legendary to most of the Army, and especially to Fort McWilliams personnel. It was where the Royal Army came into being. Where the very first unit had been stood up and based. Where that unit had issued forth to destroy the rebels that had attempted to kidnap the then current monarch. And now it was seeing the creation of another new unit. She didn't know what this Dragoons regiment would be like. Even the rumor mill was strangely silent on the issue, which meant it was either something that was extremely top secret or something that the government had black listed, and the Army was just going to suffer for it.

As she pulled up to the building, she could see several personally owned vehicles in the parking lot, as well as an older model light cargo truck. Curious as to who could be there, she pulled up and parked in the next available spot. When she got out, she looked at the LCT, hoping that it wasn't assigned to them as it looked very old. To her surprise, there weren't any unit markings to be found on the truck at all. The only thing that she did see was some form of insignia. On a shield of blue were a katana and a rifle crossing each other above an olive branch. A scroll below the two weapons read the following in a old flowing script 'Veni, Vidi, Vici'. As she stood there looking at it, she tried to remember which family such a crest belonged to, but for the life of her it wouldn't come to mind. She shrugged it off and decided to go meet whoever else was inside the building.

She walked up to the ancient building, which hadn't seen more than basic improvements in the several hundred years it had been in service, and opened the front door, almost throwing it open. On the other side there came a loud clang and splashing sound.

"God damnit! All right who the fuck is stupid enough to open a door so quick like that!" A deep man's voice said in anger from behind the door.

Haruka bristled at his words and came around the door in anger. She glared down at the dark skinned man before her. His t-shirt and jeans soaked in soapy water as he glared back up at her with an equal amount of anger.

"How dare you say such a thing about a First Sergeant of the Royal Army!" She said hotly.

"When said First Sergeant ignores the fact that there are vehicles parked outside, which means that there are probably people cleaning inside, and just barges into the building like she's storming it, then hell yeah I'm going to say that!" He countered just as hotly.

While Haruka sputtered in anger the man smirked and turned his back on her as he continued to clean. "Now I've got a battalion headquarters building to bring up to a very strict standard." He told her dismissively.

"I'll have you know I'm one of this battalion's company First Sergeants, and I came here to do what you're doing as well!" She said in cold anger as she calmed down, using her hatred for those who've hurt her as a focus.

"Well shit! Why the fuck didn't you say so in the first place?! Which company?" He asked with a heavy sigh as he turned back around and stood up, looking her up and down.

"And why should I tell you?" She asked in return, not liking the abrasive man at all as she glared down at the shorter man. She figured if it came to it, she could probably take him down without too much trouble.

"Because I'm askin' ya and because it's my job to know that. How else is the Boss supposed to get the right info if I don't watch his back?" He replied with a note of sarcasm in his voice.

Haruka stomped hard on her anger, reminding herself harshly that she was a professional as she glared at him. "Alpha Company." She snarled out.

The man looked at her and he seemed to deflate as he sighed tiredly. "It figures." He murmured softly to himself before he stood straighter, still not reaching anywhere near Haruka's height. "All right, just give me a second and I'll have the big Boss and your new boss here." He told her, being polite all of a sudden.

Haruka blinked in surprise, not expecting that kind of reaction as she nodded absently to him.

He nodded back before he turned inward and took a deep breath. "BOSS!!! MA-CHAN!!!! COMPANY!!!!" He bellowed out in a good parade ground voice.

Haruka cringed slightly at his using a parade ground voice indoors. Not long after his below two people appeared from different ends of the building. One was a tall dark haired Asian man, the other was a tall brown haired woman with her hair done up in a bun.

"What's up An-kun?" The woman asked, curious as to the bellow.

"Got yer new First Sergeant here. Opened the front door like she was gonna bust into this place like its an enemy position and spilled all my soap water all over me!!" He told them.

"Really now, well that wasn't very polite." The other man said, looking sharply at Haruka.

The woman looked sympathetically at the man before she looked at Haruka curiously. Haruka looked back at her, something telling her that meeting the other man's eyes was a bad idea. As she looked at the woman she was struck with a vague sense of déjà vu, as if she had met the stunning brunette before.

The younger woman saw the confusion and smiled. "It has been a long time, hasn't it Haruka? Back when you were a Master Sergeant and I was just a butter bar if I remember correctly." She said to Haruka.

"Makoto Kino? Is that really you? Wow, you look great!" Haruka said in amazement.

"Actually its Saotome now, but yeah it's me." Makoto replied.

"WHAT!! You married that rat bastard Ranma?!" Haruka yelled in shock.

"Hey! I ain't a bastard! My parents were married when I was born thank you very much!" Ranma replied from behind Haruka.

Haruka spun around and gave him a deadly glare. "It's because of you that some of my closest friends are now dead! It's because of you that Makoto got into trouble! And now you've forced her to marry you!! But most importantly it's because of you that my Micheru is dead! I don't care what it takes, but I'll see you die for that only!" Haruka yelled, tears in her eyes as she confronted the one man she hated more than anything.

Before she could do anything, Haruka froze as she felt two bites on either side of her neck. Behind, each with a ninja-to in hand, stood Ukyou and Konatsu.

"I would recommend that you rethink that plan of action lady. If Ranchan could have saved them, then he would have." Ukyou said coldly.

"Haruka please! Calm down! Ranma didn't force me to marry him. He's my brother, his parents adopted me into their family. As for Micheru and the others, Ranma ordered the support elements and wounded to go to ground. Most of them are hidden right now!" Makoto said to her, hoping to calm her old friend down.

"First Sergeant Ten'oh, I deeply apologize for being incapable of bringing your friends and loved one home. You have every right to blame me for their still being on Mersedas." Ranma said as he bowed deeply to her. "But this unit is to be trained for one thing, the eventual retaking of Mersedas, and the repayment of the blood debt owed to us by Clan Ghost Bear." He finished.

"Let me guess, you're my new battalion commander aren't you Sir?" Haruka asked harshly.

"I am First Sergeant. But you need to ask yourself what is more important, your vengeance against me? Or a possible friendship with me, the guarantee you get a chance at Clan Ghost Bear, and vindication?" He asked her.

"Haruka, that ass Michaelson didn't give us any air support until we were eighty klicks out from the dropships! He even took our internal air support away from us! Even the choppers!" Makoto said rapidly, hoping to add weight to sway Haruka to Ranma's side.

Before any more comments could be made, the door opened again, this time admitting Ami into the building. She looked up from a piece of paper in her hands, tears in her eyes.

"They're alive." She said softly as she looked at them all.

"What?! Who's alive?" Haruka asked as she looked over at Ami slowly, careful to not prick herself against the blades still on her neck.

"Usagi, Rei, Minako, and Micheru. They're still alive on Mersedas. They all made it safely into hiding and are working with Major Tendo on Mersedas right now!" Ami said, a large happy smile on her face.

Haruka seemed to sag in relief at the news, while Makoto's eyes sparkled with unshed, but happy tears. Haruka looked up at Ranma, determination written on her face, though no apology.

"So it's really General Michaelson's fault eh?" She said. "I can't really blame you then, can I? You did the best you could in a shitty situation. Nothing you could do about that at all. And you at least made sure as many as possible survived, didn't you. Its proof right there in her hands that they aren't dead." Haruka sighed and bowed her head slowly. "All right Sir, you win. I guess I'm part of this team then."

Ranma nodded as the two ninja withdrew their swords. He stopped forward and offered his hand to her. "How about I let you spar with me sometime. Mako-chan seems to think that you're a decent martial artist. It might not be what you hoped for, but I'm fairly tough, so you can work out some aggression on me if you'd like. I'm always up for a good spar."

Haruka looked up at him, a crooked smile on her face as she took his proffered hand and shook it. "I'll take you up on that offer then Sir, I got a lot of aggression to work out." She replied.

"Great! But when I'm not in uniform, call me Ranma please, all my friends do." He told her.

TBC!!!

End Author's Notes: Wow, another chapter all done! Gods where does the time come from!! Anyway, I hope ya'll like this one. This was originally supposed to be a side story to the main story line, but for some reason it just didn't seem right like that. So now Ranma has converted yet another to his cause, what will happen next? Guess we'll just have to wait for the next chapter. Join us next time for Chapter 8.

Chapter 8: A Meeting with Royalty

This is Captain Dave signing off!


	9. Chapter 8

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: I do not own the things that I write here. Well at least not most of them. There are a couple of things that I do, but it was mostly thought up during times of massive tiredness. That which I don't own, I pay homage to those that do, and give them great respect and honor for the great works that they have done.

Author's Notes: Holy cow another one!! And I had writer's block on this one for a few days too!! Damn work and being deployed! Oh well, I hope ya'll like this chapter. Sorry for the shortness of the previous chapter, but it just wasn't flowing as long as the other ones, and it seemed like a good spot to stop.

On with the Voting!!!

Ryoko (Tenchi): 2

Washu (Tenchi): 1

Xian Pu (Ranma): 1

Setsuna (Sailor Moon): 1

Micheru (Sailor Moon): 1

Sasami (T M)/Ami (SM)/Sara: 1

Kasumi (Ranma): 1

Well seems Ryoko has pulled ahead slightly! Interesting!

[blah silent tap speech

And on with the story!!

Chapter 8: A Meeting With Royalty

Location:

Royal Palace, Capitol City, Planet Manticore

Date:

Wednesday, 18th Day, 5th Month, 3045 TY

Time:

0800 Local

Palace Security was extremely tight when they arrived at the main entrance to the Royal Palace. In addition to the traditional I.D. card checks, there were weapons scans, physical searches done by armed guards, and identification verification via finger prints, retinal scans, and voice recognition.

While most would see this as excessive measures, Ranma and company agreed with the requirements whole heartedly. After all, these procedures were in place to protect the Royal Family. Ranma knew from personal experience that people wanting to assassinate a member of the Royal Family would and could strike at any time and place.

After all the checks and searches were completed they were allowed to enter the less public areas of the palace. Their guide, a young corporal from the Royal Guard's Mersedas Battalion, led them to a simple set of double doors after a long and winding passage.

"Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome, Captains Makoto Saotome and Tenchi Misaki, and Sergeant Angus McRory are here to see the Queen." He said with a sharp salute to the door guard.

The door guards looked them over before one of them spoke quietly into his comlink. When he got a reply he smiled at them and he moved to open the door for them. "The Queen will see you now Gentlemen, Lady." He said politely to them as he held the door open.

As they walked through the doors, Ranma smiled at the guards. "Thank you gentlemen." He said softly to them.

"No problem Sir, and thank you for everything you did on Mersedas." The left hand guard said just as softly.

When Angus came abreast of the guards, the right hand one stopped him briefly with a hand on his shoulder. When Angus looked over at him curiously, the guard grimaced.

"Keep an eye on your temper and the Colonel's temper McRory. The king doesn't like him at all and may try to provoke something between them. We all like the Colonel and don't want anything to happen to him." The guard told him softly.

"Thanks for the warning Walscott. I'll keep the Old Man out of trouble." Angus said with a grin. The guard nodded in thanks and let go, letting Angus enter the room after his friends.

The room they entered had a quiet elegance to it. Yet somehow it held a very homey and comfortable feel as well. There were bookshelves full of books of all kinds, couches comfortable enough that on could sleep on them, and a cozy fireplace. On one of the couches sat the Royal Couple, the Queen looked relaxed and happy, while the King seemed to be trying to kill Ranma with his eyes. Next to them on a couple of chairs sat the Crown Prince, who was dressed very casually in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and the Crown Princess who was wearing a nice dress and had her hair done up in a bun and looking very demure.

When they entered the Queen stood up and walked up to them. "Ranma it has been far too long!" She said as she shook his hand.

"Indeed Your Majesty. I believe that the last time we saw each other was about six years ago when you requested the right to pin on my current rank." Ranma said with a light smile.

The Queen gave a slight grimace as she looked at him. "Ranma, what have I told you before? When we aren't under the public eye, address me as you did the day you rescued me. How many times to I have to keep reminding you?" She lightly scolded him as she waved a finger at him.

Ranma smiled softly as he bowed low and kissed her knuckles. "Your wish is my command Natsumi-chan." As he straightened his smile became a grin. "And you'll have to remind me every time."

"Impudent man! Sit, relax and let's talk!" She said with a responding grin, unable to be angry at him for long.

As they all sat down, the King continued to glare evilly at Ranma. Ranma tried to ignore it, though it was starting to get on his nerves that his King wasn't pleased with him for some reason. He didn't want to get into more trouble by picking a fight with His Majesty, especially as he just got out of trouble not too long ago.

"Now then, I invited you all here for a reason. The primary reason is to tell you what will happen in a few hours at the main Audience chamber. There I will be giving you my official thanks for what you did on Mersedas. The second thing I will be doing is Knighting each of you for the same reason. Unfortunately I can't do what I would like to do with you Ranma." She told them.

"Of course you can't! You're going to cause enough of a ruckus amongst the Lords by knighting him! But trying to name him a noble, especially of Mersedas, would cause a riot!!" Samual blurted out suddenly. "The House of Lords, and in particular the Opposition Parties, wouldn't stand for having someone like _him_ as one of their numbers."

Ranma bristled at the obvious insult to his honor and was about to say something that was potentially stupid when Angus put a hand on his shoulder. Ranma glanced at him and saw Angus shake his head slightly as he tapped his shoulder in a patern.

[He's not worth it Ranma. He's provoking you to get you in trouble.

Ranma reigned in his anger and took a deep, yet subtle breath. He then cleared his throat, drawing the Royal Family's attention to him and away from the infant argument. "I am honored and flattered by what you want to give me Natsumi, but I must agree with your husband, though for different reasons. Being made a noble for my actions on Mersedas is a bit much. I even feel as if knighting me is too much as well, but I doubt that I can change you mind on that idea one bit." He said to her.

"Yes well, we'll discuss this another time." Natsumi said as she glared briefly at her husband. "Now that business is out of the way, let me introduce you to my two eldest children. This is my eldest, and heir, William." She waved to the young man.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet the man who has saved my mother's life." William said with a smile as he stood to shake Ranma's hand.

"I just happened to be at the right place at the right time Your Highness. Anybody else would have done the same thing as I did." Was Ranma's reply as he shook his Prince's hand.

Natsumi smiled at them before she waved to her daughter. "And this is my eldest daughter Sara." She said

"It is a great honor to be in your presence Sir." She said as she stood up and came to attention, despite being in a full length dress, yet not looking silly at all. Her brown hair almost swayed out of the loose bun it was held in by her movements.

Ranma looked her up and down, a part of his mind entranced by her beauty, while the rest puzzled out that she had somehow gotten some military training, most likely from General McKay.

"At ease soldier, the honor is all mine." He said to her with a small bow before he turned back to Natsumi.

Only Makoto, Natsumi and Samual noticed as Sara blushed madly at being acknowledged by Ranma as a soldier. Samual turned and leveled a glare at Ranma, that could looks actually kill, would have turned Ranma and the couch he was sitting on into a large pile of ash.

"So how did Makoto get your last name Ranma? I don't see a wedding band on either of you, so I think it's safe to assume that you two aren't married." Natsumi asked.

"Natsumi, you're the first person to ask us that question rather than assuming we were. Actually my parents adopted Mako-chan into our family on Sunday. She's my little sister now." Ranma replied.

"Well congratulations Makoto! Glad to see that you're in a family that understands what you do for a living." Natsumi said cheerfully.

"Thank you. It's much better than listening to my Aunts and Uncles drone on about how I'm an evil little murderess and I need to get out of the Army, get a real job, find a husband, get kids and redeem myself in the eyes of humanity for my sins." Makoto said.

For Ranma and the rest this was the first time hearing how badly Makoto's old family had treated her. "I knew there was reason that I didn't like most liberals." Ranma muttered just loud enough for the room to hear him.

Across the open area from him, Samual stiffened in anger, barely restraining himself from lashing out at the impudent military man for daring to insult his party! One of the only things that did restrain him was that his wife was nodding in agreement with Ranma's words.

"So how is your relationship with Makoto going Angus?" Natsumi asked politely, trying to draw the others into the conversation.

"Umm, pretty good Your Majesty." Angus answered hesitantly.

"We won't get into further trouble will we Your Majesty?" Makoto asked, a little bit of fear creeping into her voice as one of her hands grasped one of Angus's.

"Heaven's no! I directed my Army to change that regulation. As long as you maintain your professional bearing while in uniform, then you'll be all right." Natsumi said to reassure the young couple.

The two sighed in relief as they sagged back into the couch, still holding each other's hand, but comfortably rather than comfortingly.

"So what about you Tenchi? Ranma? Anyone special in your lives right now?" She asked.

Both men smiled lightly and shook their heads.

"Not at this time Cousin Natsumi, although there are a couple I'm interested in. I'm going to wait for a bit longer before I try my hand at dating anyone again." Tenchi said with a light voice.

"I've got too much on my plate right now Natsumi. I've got to get the Wild Horses together, then trained and then take them into battle. I really don't have the time for a relationship right now." Ranma told her.

They continued to talk about various things for another couple of hours before an alarm started to beep next to the Queen. She sighed as she turned it off.

"Well looks like we have to go get ready for Audience now. We'll meet you again in the main hall Ranma." She said as she stood up.

Everybody followed her lead and stood up. As everyone started to file out the door, Samual stayed behind in the room.

"Colonel Saotome, may I have a word with you?" He said formally.

"Of course Your Majesty." Ranma said as they waited for everyone to leave the room.

Once everyone was gone and the doors were shut, Samual cleared his throat and glared at him.

"I don't like you, as you well know. And I don't like how familiar you are with my wife. I'm man enough to realize that the second is not your fault, as she insists on that familiarity, however, if I ever catch you becoming that familiar with my daughter I'll have you clapped in irons and the key thrown away. Am I understood?" Samual said coldly.

"You Majesty, I understand perfectly. But you do understand that Her Highness is old enough to make her own decisions, especially ones like who she wants to date or marry." Ranma replied formally, trying to keep his temper in.

"As long as its not you she chooses then I'll be happy for her." Samual said snidely.

Ranma stomped hard on his anger as it spiked suddenly and nodded once. "Is that all Your Majesty?" He asked slowly.

"Yes you are dismissed Colonel." Samual answered haughtily.

Ranma bowed politely, then turned around and left the room quietly. Outside the room his friends were waiting for him.

"So what did His Majesty want to talk to you about?" Makoto asked softly.

"He threatened me that if I got interested in his daughter that he would throw me into prison and throw away the key! How dare he!! Especially when his daughter is of legal age to make her own decisions, how dare he make them for her!" Ranma ranted angrily as they walked to the rooms that were set up for them to get ready for Court.

In another part of the Palace, William was watching as his sister finished dying her hair a deep auburn color, instead of the nice brown that it was by birth. He shook his head as she seemed to flit about the room, getting her formal uniform in order.

"How do you do it sis?" He asked her.

"Easy William, its just hair dye." She responded.

"No, I mean how do you twist Uncle Daffyd around your little finger like that?" He prodded.

"Oh that's easy! I'm his favorite, so if I really needed anything I could get it. I don't use it often though, this is the first time in a _long_ time, but this is really, really important to me." She told him.

"Yeah I know, I just hope this doesn't blow up in your face. If dad finds out he's going to have a shit fit, and you know it! He's likely to blame Ranma for your disappearance anyway, no matter what kind of letter you leave." William said.

"Ha! With mom on my side he won't do anything to the Colonel. And the Wild Horses will be the _last_ place that daddy will think to look for me." She countered.

"Well it's your choice Sara. Just do us a favor and be safe okay? Don't take any more risks than you have to please. It'd kill mom if something happened to you." William said with a sad smile.

She turned and smiled at her older brother cheekily. "I will William, you'll see. I'll be back when the tour is over, and if I work it right, probably as the new Mrs. Saotome as well!" She said before she made a shooing motion at him. "Now get out so that I can get dressed."

Half an hour later found the four of them standing in the main audience hall of the palace, which could hold half a platoon of the new Fafnir Assault BattleMech with room to spare. All about the room stood members of the nobility, lobbyists, members of the House of Commons and military personnel in formal uniform. People were gathered in small groups, talking to each other about things that they found important. Over this all, the armed and armored guards watched everything. Their watchful presence more noticeable than normal in the recent light of the threats from the terrorist organization 'The Sons of Manticore'.

Suddenly there came a rapping sound from up near the throne. Beside the throne stood an old man with an ornately carved staff. Once he had everyone's attention he seemed to smirk without moving his lips.

"Lords and Ladies, Queen Natsumi McKay!!" He bellowed out, filling the great hall with the sound of his voice.

Everyone kneeled as the King and Queen entered from a secure side door. They crossed the hall and walked up the steps to their thrones. As they regally sat down the herald rapped his staff again, giving the signal that all could rise.

"The Audience now begins. Let any with legitimate concerns or complaints approach the Throne humbly to lay them at the feet of Her Majesty!" He announced.

Over the next hour and a half several people approached their monarch with their concerns. More than half dealt with what was being done about Mersedas. Each question about Mersedas the Queen said she would be announcing near the end of the Audience.

After the final person, the Queen made a small gesture to her herald. He nodded in response and rapped his staff once more.

"Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome, Captain Makoto Saotome, Captain Tenchi Misaki, Sergeant Angus McRory, your Queen summons you before the Throne." He said loudly, causing all the small conversations about the hall to suddenly stop.

A pathway opened between the four military personnel and the Throne. As they marched smartly down the path they could see out of the corners of their eyes the reactions of the people around them. Most were curious as to what was going on. Others, like the Liberal Party members, were smirking as they thought that the Queen was going to publicly strip them of their rank.

When they reached the area before the Throne, they lined up like a squad and kneeled as one, heads bowed before their monarch.

"Your Majesty, we, the remnants of the 9th Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, are here as summoned." Ranma said formally.

The Queen rose from her throne and stepped forward to stand before them. She then looked out at the gathered Court and smiled a small smile.

"When one shows exemplary service in the name of the Crown, it is rewarded. These four have shown courage under great adversity. They have faced an enemy that _none_ of us predicted to even exist. They fought that enemy while covering the retreat of the 3rd Mech Division, all the while drawing them away from doing harm to the local population. On top of this, when it looked as if they wouldn't be able to escape with their support elements and wounded, Lieutenant Colonel Saotome ordered his people to go into hiding and to wait out the enemy. His actions, and the actions of these three others of his unit, show true courage and embody all that one should strive to meet. It is for these reasons that they have Our thanks. It is for their efforts to keep the civilian population as uninvolved as they could during the retreat, for this they have Our thanks. On top of Our thanks, it is Our distinct pleasure to knight these four brave heroes, as is befitting for what they have done." She said loudly and formally.

She then held out her hand to her side. From behind the Throne stepped an armored Captain bearing a sword. She drew the sword and turned it around and placed the hilt into the Queen's hand. The Queen then turned the sword around and held the blade as she extended the hilt down to the four before her.

"Place thy hands upon the hilt." She ordered. The four moved closer and each placed their right hand on the hilt of the sword.

"Dost thou swear to uphold the laws of this Kingdom?" She asked.

"We do." They responded as one.

"Dost thou swear to defend this Kingdom and its people against all enemies, both from within and without?" She asked.

"We do." Came the reply.

"Dost thou swear to uphold the Knightly Code of Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage?" She asked.

"We do." They said.

"Dost thou swear to protect the Royal Family and maintain thine vassals' war fighting ability?" She asked.

"We do" They confirmed.

"Then We respond oath sworn with oath given. Support is yours for the asking. Vengeance for when thou hast been wronged. Oath breaking with justice by Our hands." She said formally.

As they dropped their hands from the hilt of the sword, the Queen turned the blade back around and tapped each of their shoulders in the proper fashion to conclude the ceremony. Upon finishing, she stepped back and handed the sword to the Captain of her Guard again.

"Now rise Knights of Manticore, and be recognized by the Court." She told them.

All four stood and turned around to face the applause that came scattered from the people gathered there. Everyone could tell that some were shocked at seeing the exact opposite of what they had been expecting. Most of the gathered military personnel, including the guards, were quite pleased with the current turn of events.

"Sir Saotome, we have but one directive for you and your fellow knights." The Queen said loud enough to be heard by all after the applause had died down.

The four turned back around and faced their Queen. "Name it Your Majesty, and we shall accomplish it." Ranma said formally, yet with pride and confidence.

"Retake Our planet from this Clan Ghost Bear, and teach them a lesson." She ordered.

"It shall be done as you command Your Majesty." All four replied as one.

"Good luck and Godspeed Knights." She said as a dismissal.

The four kneeled once more before they slowly backed up then as one turned smartly about and marched out of the hall amid whispers and glares. Once outside the main hall, the four friends sagged inwards and sighed in relief at being out of the area.

"Wow, never thought I'd be a knight." Angus said with a lopsided grin. "Man would my school mates me shocked!"

"I know what you mean Sergeant." Makoto said with a slight smirk. "This is probably driving my ex-family nuts right now!"

"Colonel, I hope you know what this means now." Tenchi said suddenly.

"What do you mean Tenchi?" Ranma asked, actually confused for a second by his remark.

"You're going to have to accept Ukyou's and Konatsu's oaths of fealty now. You know that this is going to be all over the evening news tonight." Tenchi told him. Ranma groaned as he realized that Tenchi was right and that there was no escape from this one this time.

"Excuse me Sir?" Said a soft female voice from the left hand side of the four.

The four turned to see who had spoken. They saw a young woman about Ranma's height. She was wearing a formal uniform, with the rank of Sergeant, and a mechwarrior branch insignia. Her long auburn hair was tied back into a simple pony tail that seemed to enhance her beauty. Her hazel eyes sparkled with amusement and mischief as she came to attention and saluted them. All four were struck with the thought of how closely she resembled the Crown Princess, except for her hair.

"Sergeant Michelle McKay, Sir! My cousin told me that my new battalion commander was here and being knighted today." She said as she held her salute.

"At ease Sergeant." Ranma said as he returned the salute. "Do you have your orders with you?" He asked.

"Yes Sir!" She responded as she pulled out a folder and held it out. Angus reached forward and took it from her hands and proceeded to read through the file.

"Excuse me Sergeant McKay, but who is your cousin that told you?" Makoto asked curiously.

Michelle looked at Makoto with a small smile. "The Crown Princess Sara McKay of course! She thought that seeing as Uncle Samual won't let her join again with the intent to enter your unit, that she would pull a few strings to get me assigned instead, that way I could keep the Royal Family up to date on the important things that are happening to your unit Ma'am." She said.

"So you're to be the Royal Family's watch dog to make sure that we don't betray their trust eh?" Tenchi asked sharply.

Michelle blushed in embarrassment as that thought hadn't occurred to her. "No Sir!! Her Majesty's instructions were to only report when my new unit hit stumbling blocks in getting things or getting things done due to other people not doing their jobs and supporting our unit like she wants them to!" She said rapidly, trying to regain any lost trust quickly.

"Are you willing to show us every report that you are going to send prior to sending it to Her Majesty?" Ranma asked her.

"Of course Sir! My cousins would just about kill me if I caused you any serious trouble." She replied.

"Why is that?" Makoto chimed in.

"They all admire Sir Saotome, and if I was to cause more trouble for him, they would be most unhappy with me, and most likely take it out on me in very nasty ways." She answered.

"Her file checks out Sir!" Angus said as he finally closed the file. "Welcome to the unit.

"Thank you Sir McRory." She said.

"Well in that case, let us be off. We have a lot of work to get done." Ranma said as he started to leave.

TBC

End Author's Notes: Wow, the end of yet another chapter! This one took me longer than I was wanting it too, mostly due to a few very busy work days combined with a small case of writer's block. Its all better now, at least I hope it is. I'm already working on chapter 9 and I hope to have it out sometime in the next couple of weeks. Anywho, voting is still open, and comments are always welcome.

Until the next chapter

Chapter 9: We Have Nothing!!!

This is Captain Dave signing off!


	10. Chapter 9

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: I do not own the things that I write here. Well at least not most of them. There are a couple of things that I do, but it was mostly thought up during times of massive tiredness. That which I don't own, I pay homage to those that do, and give them great respect and honor for the great works that they have done.

Author's Notes: Well here is yet another chapter done. This one was a bit odd in the works, but hey at least it's done now! The voting continues strong and I like what I've been seeing from everyone! Thanks for all the reviews that you've been giving me. I've even been provided with some interesting ideas that I hadn't thought of before until it was mentioned. Now I've got even more plot twists and what not to use!! grins evilly

**Bladewing**: Thank you for the notification of the difficulty in telling scene changes, I will modify the story from here on out to better fit that. Still a little new at the whole multiply scenes going on at the 'same time' thing.

**Whitefire666**: Indeed Ranma can never have too much love. I'm glad you like how the story is going and I plan on getting more chapters out as soon as I can finish writing them. The army, unfortunately, limits my ability to write. This is but the first at least 2 if not 3 'books'.

Here are the voting results so far!

Ryoko: 3

Washu: 2

Xian Pu: 1

Setsuna: 1

Michiru: 1

Sasami/Ami/Sara: 5

Kasumi: 1

Washu/Setsuna/Ryoko/Sasami: 1

Washu/Setsuna/Ryoko: 1

Washu/Setsuna/Sara: 1

Ryoko/Sara: 1

Washu/Michiru: 1

Washu/Natsumi: 1

Ami: 1

Usagi: 1

Wow, things are really getting interesting now aren't they? All these multiply hookups eh? Well we'll see where things go from here. Now on with the chapter

Chapter 9: We Have Nothing!!

Location:

Wild Horses' Headquarters, Fort McWilliams, Planet Manticore

Date:

Monday, 25th Day, 6th Month, 3045 TY

Time:

0900 Hours Local

Ranma sat at the head of the massive table that was in the large conference room at his Battalion's headquarters building. He watched as his various officers and senior enlisted members walked in and found their seats. He smiled inside as he remembered the past month for them.

The battalion was almost up to full man power strength, with only a few slots still not filled, although those people were in route. In the span of less than a month, he had gone from commanding less than half of an infantry platoon, to a full strength battalion. Never in his entire military career had he seen a battalion stand up as quickly as his had.

'The Crown must really want this battalion field ready with a quickness.' Ranma thought as the final person came in and sat down. 'Now if what my company commanders and S4 are saying is true, we _still_ have no equipment. I'd really rather not use the connections I do have, but I may have no choice.'

Ranma looked around the large table and smiled as he looked at each person in turn. First was his executive officer, Major Ryoga Habiki, his long time friend and rival. Ranma knew he could depend on the man to get his people through anything, and knew he could rely on him. Next to him was his S3, Major Ayeka Jurai, in the short time he had known her, he couldn't have imagined a more competent and effective officer. Next, pulling double duty as head engineer and S4 was Major Washu Hakubi. Ranma liked what he had seen out of her so far as she had pulled a few strings to get them not only simulator time to keep the troops trained, but also the basic essentials like side arms and rifles.

After that was his S2, Major Mu Tsu Liao. Ranma swore that the man knew magic, as some of the intelligence that he had acquired could only have been gotten by someone who knew the black arts. Next was his naval liaison, Commander Jackie Harmon, who also was in charge of all aerospace fighter assets within the whole battalion. She was a cocky woman after Ranma's own heart, confident in her skills and able to back up her boasts. After her was Chief Warrant Officer 5 Jilly St. Amand, and like all her breed, she was a law unto herself. Her sole job was organizing all helicopter forces and using them to the best of their abilities, something that she was _very_ good at.

Finally came his company commanders and their first sergeants. The command team for his Headquarters and Headquarters Company; Captain Brandon Bransford and First Sergeant William Rose. The command team for Alpha Company; Captain Makoto Saotome and First Sergeant Haruka Ten'Oh. The command team for Bravo Company; Captain Tenchi Misaki and First Sergeant Sam Nickelson. The command team for Charlie Company; Captain Ryoko Hakubi and First Sergeant Wilson Rose. The command team for Delta Company; Captain Ami Mizuno and First Sergeant Arthur Smith.

At the other end of the table sat the lowest ranking officer in the room. First Lieutenant Xian Pu Liao sat looking back at her battalion commander. She was currently the executive officer for the newly formed Commander's Own. A unit that, much to Ranma's disgust, was formed by people who had sworn personal oath's of fealty to him. Just inside the door stood Sergeant Michelle McKay, one of his two personal guards. The other, Sergeant Angus McRory, stood outside the room.

Ranma sighed internally as he stood up and got everyone's attention. "Good morning everyone. We've got a lot to cover today, so we're going to go ahead and dive right in. We'll start with you Xian." He said in greeting as he sat back down.

Xian stood up and looked at the blotter in front of her to make sure she had everything in order. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. The Commander's Own is shaping up to be a good unit Sir. My amazons are completely combat ready outside of having our transport birds. Lieutenants Tomoe and Jurai are shaping up very nicely in the simulators and are by far some of the best helicopter pilots I've ever seen. Sergeant McRory and Sergeant McKay have done an outstanding job in forming you personal guard units into decent fighting groups. Other than the lack of equipment we're ready for our jobs." She reported.

"Thank you very much Lieutenant. All right, Captain Mizuno, if you would please continue." Ranma said, looking at Ami.

Before Ami could stand up, much less start speaking, Ryoko stood up and looked around. "Sir I'm sure I speak for all of us, but we all have no equipment beyond the basic personal crap that is issued to everyone. On top of that we were supposed to start receiving all of our new equipment two weeks ago! The only ones who do have either mechs or vehicles are those who are rich enough to afford having them!" She said a little hotly.

"Captain Hakubi, that is quite enough! You are out of line!" Major Jurai said angrily as she stood up and glared at the young captain.

"Ayeka, stand down, I understand completely why she is this way." Ranma said as he sighed inside again. Major Hakubi, do you have any answers for us as to when we might be receiving our equipment and more critical supplies?" he asked as he turned to her, ignoring the two glaring women.

Washu looked up from her blotter and nodded. "Yes sir. I spoke with the Bureau of Logistics commander about it just yesterday. He too is confused as to why we have not received our equipment or supplies with anything like regularity. As far as the records at the Bureau are concerned our property was sent to us in a timely manner. At least it was sent from the manufacturers in a timely manner. We both fear that somewhere along the line someone stopped the shipment. Why they would I don't have a clue, but as you can see the results are rather devastating to our unit readiness." She responded.

Ranma nodded to her in thanks, then noticed out of the corner of his eye that Sergeant McKay had pulled out a comm. unit and was talking softly into it. "Well people, I had hoped that I wouldn't have had to use the connections that I have, but it seems that someone is leaving me no choice." He told everyone.

"What do you mean sir?" Ami asked curiously, asking the one question that almost everyone in the room was dying to ask him.

"I have some very high placed connections via Sergeant McKay, and despite the fact that I don't want to use them, she is under orders to report anything like this to those connections. I'm pretty certain that we'll be getting our equipment and supplies in a far better pace after today." He answered.

"Yes but who are your connections sir? I've dug very well into things, and nothing in the intel that I've gathered has given me a clue as to what, or who, you're talking about." Mu asked, looking curiously at his commander.

Before Ranma could answer him, everyone heard Sergeant McKay as she suddenly spoke loud enough to actually be heard.

"Yes Your Majesty. Of course Your Majesty. I'll be sure to tell him Your Majesty. Thank you very much for the help Your Majesty." She said before she closed down the link. She then looked up at Ranma with a smile. "Sir, our supplies should be here sometime in the next day or two at the latest. Seems that there was a hang up at one of the Supply Support Activity sites. Her Majesty has directed this information to the attention of the Bureau of Logistics so that they can look into it. She also wanted me to pass along the following message. 'You need to keep me up to date better about the status of your unit Ranma. Treat my niece well and keep her safe. I expect that you'll have the unit ready well before my uncle has said you should be. Don't be a stranger, or I'll send my people after you just so I can say 'hi'.' She also mentioned something about loving you, but I honestly don't know in what context she was meaning sir."

Ranma sighed and nodded to her. Everyone else at the table, aside from Tenchi and Makoto, were shocked to hear that Ranma's big high placed contact was the Queen her self. Tenchi and Makoto just smirked as they looked at their friend and commander.

"Well looks like the problem is solved then, isn't it sir?" Makoto asked with a wide grin.

"Yes it would seem so Makoto, it would seem so." Ranma responded wryly.

Before any further headway could be made on the status of the battalion, the door to the conference room burst open, almost hitting Sergeant McKay in the process, as Second Lieutenant Sasami Jurai ran into the room. Behind her, Michelle barely restrained her new training reflexes from smashing the young lieutenant's head in from behind, as she recognized her and classified her as a non-threat to her commander.

"SIR SIR!! You just have to come down to the motor pool!! It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen!!" She virtually yelled in her excitement.

"At ease Lieutenant. You need to calm down and explain yourself. You knew that a meeting was going on in here. Do you have any idea how close you came to getting hit? You know how protective the Colonel's guards are." Ryoga said to her, trying to defuse the situation before it got worse than it already was.

Sasami visibly tried to calm herself, bringing herself down from the raging roar, down to a dull roar. "Yes Sir! But you _MUST_ come down to the motor pool!" She said, still exicted.

"I will as soon as you tell me why I need to go down there Lieutenant. Even members of my Own have to give me a reason." Ranma said as he stood up slowly.

"Their here Sir!! All of them! Everything is!!" She said excitedly, not really making much sense.

"What the hell are you talking about girl? What's here? Who's here?" Ryoko asked exasperated with the young lieutenant.

"Just come to the motor pool! You'll see!!" She said before she dashed back out the door, running as if the very hounds of hell were after her.

"Sir, should we follow her?" Tenchi asked.

"Well it's either that or she'll probably come back to do this again, despite whatever any of us say or do." Ranma said as he stood up.

The rest of the command group stood up with him and together they all left and headed for the battalion motor pool. Unlike the rest of the base, their motor pool was supposed to house all of their vehicles; battlemechs, tanks, hovercraft, and wheeled. The air field that wasn't too far from them was for all their airborne assets like helicopters and aerospace fighters and bombers. As they grew closer to the motor pool, they could all hear a lot of noise coming from it. Most of it sounded like engines, which didn't make any sense as they didn't have anything in there except for a couple of mechs that belonged to some of the people in the battalion.

When they entered through the gate that marked the entrance to the motor pool, they stood there in shock as they saw row after row of M-900 Super Heavy Equipment Tracks bringing in all kinds of equipment. Mechs, tanks and everything that they had been promised was moving in on one massive convoy. Sasami saw them enter and ran over to the group. As she grew closer she threw herself at Ranma, forcing him to catch her, as well as causing Angus and Michelle a minor heart attack.

"See Sir!! It's all here!! Just like it was promised to us!!" She said excitedly as the force with which she hit him caused Ranma to spin around in a circle.

"Yes indeed it does seem that way Lieutenant." Ranma said in agreement as he gently set her down on the ground. "Washu, please make sure that everything is here. In fact, Michelle, please go find the convoy commander and get him over here with the manifest so that we can see just what we are supposed to be receiving."

"Yes Sir." Michelle said as she dashed off into the crazy mess that had become their motor pool.

"By the gods! I can identify some of the vehicles already. That's got to be one of the brand new M-2 Longstop mobile artillery platforms. That there is an LBM-7 Pack Hunter, new design if I'm not mistaken. That looks like a whole platoon of ABM-98 Builders!! This is great! Those look like M-33 Patton Tanks!!" Washu said excitedly as she looked about at what was being unloaded and what had already been unloaded.

As Washu looked like a kid at Christmas, Michelle came jogging back with a young looking captain from Logistics. As they came up to Ranma, the captain threw a jaunty salute his way.

"Morning Sir. Sorry for the delay in getting you all of this, but I ran into a rather nasty snag a couple weeks ago." He said in greeting to Ranma.

Ranma returned the salute and smiled lightly at him. "Well at least you're here now. So you have the manifest and everything correct?" He asked.

"Yes sir, right here. Everything here is accounted for and in the best condition. All of its fresh from the factory. Heck the engines haven't even been broken in yet, they all have less than a hundred kilometers on them." He said as he extended the manifest to Ranma. Ranma took the manifest and handed it over to Washu, who took it and cradled it like it was a precious new born baby. She then took off towards the convoy, laughing all the way, causing a few people to shudder at the sound of her laugh.

"Scary." The captain said with a slight shudder. "Anyway Sir, that's the lot. There shouldn't be any more shipments after today."

"Any idea why you were held up so long?" Ryoko asked him.

"Yeah, some liberal asshole at the SSA decided to hold me up on all kinds of bullshit excuses. Things like the paper work for this vehicle or that mech wasn't correct. Or 'there is no way that this brand new design is supposed to be going here.' I was about to just challenge the idiot for doubting my word and the command of higher ups, but he suddenly capitulated and let me leave. That was two days ago, sorry it took me that long, but these tracks don't exactly move too fast." He explained.

"Hmmm, thank you for that information Sir." Michelle said as she got a gleam in her eye.

As everyone stood there and watched as Washu started to organize and shift all of the equipment into their proper locations, they were amazed at how much sheer crap they had been given. With over one thousand vehicles, mechs and aircraft assigned, it was a stunning amount. To everyone's knowledge, no other battalion in the entire army was so massive, and for only have four companies and a headquarters company, it was an astounding thing. Suddenly, the comm. unit at Ranma's hip started to beep with the emergency signal.

"Saotome." He said as he quickly answered it.

"Sir, you have to come down to the airfield as quickly as possible! It's the most beautiful thing that I've ever seen in my whole life!" Came Hotaru's excited voice over the comm.

"Whoa there Hotaru, calm down, slow down and explain just what the hell is going on over there. I've got enough surprises right now, so explain yourself." Ranma replied, starting to get just a little annoyed with all this excited yelling and carrying on without thought about military bearing.

"Right Sir, I apologize Sir. Every plane and helicopter that we were supposed to receive just arrived here. With me being the highest ranking person on the airfield right now, the convoy commander who brought them all here gave me the manifest and is having me check off the birds. Helicopters are my thing Sir, and while I am somewhat familiar with fixed wing aircraft, I don't know enough to bless off on the receiving end. Could you at least please send Commander Harmon over to me so that she can vet these birds and sign for them?" Hotaru asked, picking up on her commander's mood and forcing herself to calm down.

"I think that we can arrange for that to happen Lieutenant. She's leaving the motor pool right now. Seems we're getting all of our equipment delivered to us in one large load. Good work on taking command over there." Ranma said as he watched Commander Harmon take off like a bat out of hell.

"Thank you Sir. Ummm sir, on another note……is dinner still on tonight?" She asked a little hesitantly and softly.

Ranma sighed as he thought carefully. He really shouldn't be getting involved with his subordinates, but it was very difficult to resist when Hotaru, Michelle and Ami gave him the dreaded 'sad puppy dog eyes' attack, and at the same time, asking the same question. He was just lucky that his family were honorary members of Grayson, a system that had joined the Kingdom some four decades ago, it's the only way he could get away with being with multiple women. 'I'm going to burn in hell, I just know it.' He thought before he answered. "Yes Hotaru, plans haven't changed yet." He told her.

"Thank you Ranma. See you tonight then handsome." She replied with a small giggle as she disconnected the comm.

"I'm sooo burning in Hell for this." He said softly, earning a soft chuckle from Angus and Ryoga, who were the only two close enough to hear him.

"You deserve it Ranma." Ryoga said as he continued to chuckle.

"Well looks like we have everything here sir!" Washu said as she came up. "Everything is accounted for and in perfect condition."

"Great! Ayeka, Ryoga; the two of you just earned a late night!" Ranma said with an evil grin.

"WHAT!?" Both of them exclaimed in shocked amazement.

"I want a training schedule on my desk for approval before I arrive at 0900 hours tomorrow. If it isn't there, then I had better get a good reason why. You've got all night to work out one. Make it for the next year, that should cover us for now. And don't skimp on anything. In fact the harder the training the better, remember what our mission is." Ranma said as he looked over at them.

'Damn you Ranma, you're making my life Hell again.' Ryoga thought to himself. "Yes Sir." He responded.

"We'll get it done Sir." Ayeka promised. 'Damn you to hell Sir, why do you insist I work with that oaf.'

Very slowly the whole group split off to see to other things that had to be completed before the end of the day. Mostly getting the troops acquainted with their new equipment. While Ryoga and Ayeka grudgingly got down to creating a training schedule from hell for the next year. Ranma on the other hand contacted his mother and told her that she would be getting some work soon, and that he wouldn't be home for dinner tonight.

TBC

AN: YES!! Finally it is complete!! Sorry for the long delay in this chapter everyone, but between redeployment back to the United States from Iraq, and my muse abandoning me for a time, and having to help settle the house even more, then preparing to go to school before the Army ships me to Korea, a lot of things just slipped my mind. Actually wrote this one while I'm at school, so hey, school was good for something wasn't it? Seems like Ranma has some love interests, three ganging up on him, not fair I would think. Anyone besides me been subjected to the dreaded triple sad puppy dog eyes attack? shudders not something I enjoyed! Anywho, hope ya'll like this chapter and thanks for keeping up with the reviews! Oh the MTOE for the unit is complete, but its for the invasion of Mersedas, also if anyone is interested in the stats for the vehicles, drop me a line at cptdave81 yahoo (dot) com, and I'll zip you a copy of them.

This is Cptdave signing off!


	11. Side Story One, Part One

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption Side-Story

Disclaimer: I do not own the things that I write here. Well at least not most of them. There are a couple of things that I do, but it was mostly thought up during times of massive tiredness. That which I don't own, I pay homage to those that do, and give them great respect and honor for the great works that they have done.

Author's Notes: Well this is a side story. I'm sure some of you have been asking what about Kodachi in your minds a little. Even if you haven't, it's been burning in my mind for a little, so I thought that I'd let ya'll know what has happened to her.

**Wolfman:** No the Clans still hit the Successor States in 3050, but remember, as I stated in the prologue, the Star Kingdom is in a different area spatially compared to the Inner Sphere. While the Clans are Galactic North East of the Inner Sphere, the Star Kingdom is Galactic North West. So looking at it that way, it is indeed possible for them to be attacked by the Clans well before the Inner Sphere is.

Side Story One: Trial, Awakening, Betrayal, Sentence

Part One

Place:

3rd Battlemech Division Headquarters, Fort Lorwood, Planet Manticore

Date:

Tuesday 26th Day, 6th Month, 3045 TY

Time:

0900 Hours Local

Things were quiet at the Division Headquarters of the 3rd Battlemech Division. Since their return from Mersedas it had been that way. Most of the members of the division thought that they could have fought off the invaders that had come. Others still were counting their blessings for still being alive.

One such person was the aide to the division executive officer, Captain Kodachi Kuno. Not only was she glad to be alive, but she was also happy that the one person she hated was going to get his soon if she wasn't mistaken. Ever since their teenage years she had hated Ranma Saotome. First for dismissing her as a suitor, then for his fast track up the rank ladder. She was from a much better family than his, after all she was noble born, and she hadn't advanced beyond captain in her twenty years of service.

As she sat there grumbling darkly about how unfair the world was the door to her office opened up and four men came in. Two of them were tall, dark and handsome, and dressed in sharp black suits, and were she in a better mood, would be very tempted to trying them out, the other two were obviously military police, and armed ones at that. The two suited men walked up to her desk and looked down at her.

"What can I help you gentlemen with?" She asked politely, yet a bit snobbishly.

"Captain Kodachi Kuno?" The one on the right asked her, as their gaze seemed to bore holes into her.

She looked down at her desk, where her name was there in a display board, and then to her uniform where it was printed there, before she snorted at the obviously slow witted men. "Yes I am she."

The men's expressions didn't change in the slightest, though if one looked carefully a small tick could be seen beside the eyes of the left hand man. "Captain you are under arrest." The right hand man said.

Kodachi shot up in shock as she stared at them, not believing what they had told her. "What!? Impossible!! Under what charges?" She demanded with all the haughtiness of her birth.

"Falsifying government records, lying to a superior officer, slander with the intent to ruin a fellow officer's career and two counts of attempted murder." Was the response given.

"Are you going to come quietly Ma'am or are we going to have to restrain you?" The left one asked in a snarl, giving no illusion that he wanted her to resist them.

Kodachi gave him a glare that would have killed lesser men, but nodded. "I will come peacefully, but I protest these charges. They are false and my father will not allow this travesty to go any further than this." She told them coldly.

The two MPs came up and cuffed her before they started to walk out of the office. As they came to the door, the one on the left spoke up. "Oh before you go Kodachi, I have a message for you from the Colonel, 'Nice try you loon, but you won't escape this time.'" He told her with a vicious smirk.

As the MPs continued to carry the now thrashing captain out, the two men smiled in satisfaction as she screamed bloody murder the whole way.

"That was a cruel thing to say Mark, especially when you know the Colonel never gave any kind of message, he doesn't even know this is happening." The one on the right said.

"Yeah I know Steve, but I hate what she's done to our buddy, so I figured I'd yank her chain a little before she left." Mark responded.

Location

Headquarters, 2nd Battalion, 1st BattleMech Regiment

Fort Victory, Planet Manticore

Date: Wednesday 27th Day, 6th Month, 3045 TY

Time: 1000 Hours Local

Tatewaki Kuno, scion of the Kuno Family, a minor noble family with more power and wealth than most thought that any of them should have. Also a mere captain in the Royal Army. Once he was a Lieutenant Colonel, until he had pushed his obsession with pretty young women too far, and paid the price for it. Now, instead of being the proud mechwarrior and battalion commander that he should be, he was relegated to being the S1 Officer In Charge of the 2nd Battalion, 1st BattleMech Regiment.

Not five minutes before he had received a call from his _father_. The man had ordered him to support him in the defense of his twisted sister in her upcoming court martial. He had been told to make it look like his sister was the victim of circumstance and misunderstanding, and to put Ranma Saotome in as bad a light as he possibly could. Had his father ordered this five years ago, he would have gladly followed those orders, but now he wasn't so pleased to receive them. Much had changed in him over the last five years. Most of it had happened because of the young Saotome.

As he sat calmly at his desk, he thought back to two incidents over the last five years that had completely changed his outlook in life. The latest was his demotion from Lieutenant Colonel to Captain, something that he thought would never happen. All because he couldn't keep his mouth shut and his manhood in his pants around pretty women. He cursed himself for his inability to do what he now realized was the honorable thing to do. He should have followed the example shown to him four and a half years ago, or even realized it far sooner when he had first gotten to know the one who had taught him that lesson four and a half years ago.

The other incident that happened four and a half years ago was during a training exercise on Mersedas. He had been a Major at the time and was a battalion executive officer. He had boasted in one of the local establishments that his battalion could defeat any two battalions of the 3rd BattleMech Division, whom they were fighting against in this training exercise. Of course he had had a few drinks before saying that, and certain members of said Division had taken offense to his words as well. But what surprised him was when a man about his age walked up and stared him down. Oh how he clearly remembered the words that were spoken to him that day.

"My Squadron will wipe you off the face of Mersedas Kuno." Was what he had been told.

At the time, he had been greatly offended and responded in anger, especially after he recognized the man as he old arch-enemy, Ranma Saotome.

What had followed during their month long training on that planet had been one humiliating defeat after another, and always at the hands of the 9th Squadron. On top of that, Kuno himself had been killed each and every engagement by the young Saotome, no matter what he had done differently, Saotome always was there to kill him. It had been an eye opener for the young noble. After all the training was done, he had run into his old enemy one more time, also in a bar. The words that Ranma had said to him had stayed in his mind like none had before, not even the works of the Great Writer himself.

"Your battalion fought well Kuno. Next time don't brag in another man's territory quite so loudly. Be happy, your division commander was quite pleased with how the exercise went. He was afraid that my unit would tie up a lot more of his people, but you unwittingly caused us to concentrate ourselves and ended up saving the division a lot of pain and suffering. I suggest being a bit more thoughtful and think ahead as to what you are doing." Ranma said to him as he clapped him on the shoulder. "I look forward to facing you again, or maybe fighting beside you. You're a tough opponent on the battlefield Tatewaki."

After he had said that, Ranma left the bar, leaving him to his thoughts. Now five years later Kuno sat in his office and thought about what he should do. He knew what his _father_ had ordered him to do, but he just couldn't bring himself to follow through with it. If he was going to go against the general though, he'd need allies. Powerful ones at that, and if the latest rumors were true, then Ranma Saotome had been not only elevated, but given a very prestigious posting.

His mind made up, Kuno stood from his desk and walked into the main area of the S-1 office. He looked around, and saw one of the clerks, a young female private, sitting at her desk typing away. He walked up to her desk and gently cleared his throat.

"Excuse me Private Rawls." He said gently.

The young woman paused in her work to look up cautiously at him. She had heard the rumors about him, and was wary of what the Captain wanted from her. "Yes Sir?" She asked softly.

"I must step out of the office. There is some paperwork that I must take over to Fort McWilliams as soon as possible. I fear that I may not be back today, could you please let Sergeant Smithers know that I have left?" He asked politely.

The young woman smiled softly at him, happy to see that the rumors were wrong about him. "I can do that for you Sir." She said cheerfully.

Kuno bowed slightly to her. "Thank you." He said before he left the office to get into his vehicle.

Location

Headquarters

1st Battalion, 1st Dragoon Regiment

Fort McWilliams, Planet Manticore

Date: Wednesday 27th Day, 6th Month, 3045 TY

Time: 1330 Hours Local

Kuno pulled his ground car into one of the parking spots available in front of the building. It had taken a few hours for him to get here, but he desperately needed to talk to someone inside this building. He slowly got out of his car and locked the door before heading inside.

As he entered he saw that the Staff Duty desk was properly manned. As he approached, the young woman who was sitting behind the desk looked up at him.

"Welcome to Wild Horse Headquarters Captain, how can I help you today?" She asked cheerfully.

Kuno smiled at the cheerfulness and professionalism. "Is the colonel in right now Sergeant?" He asked politely.

"Yes he is Sir. Just give me a second and I'll get you an escort." She said respectfully as she picked up a phone and dialed a quick number. "Hey there Michelle, I've got a Captain here requesting to see the Boss. Uhhuh, sure, all right, see you soon. One of the Colonel's personal guards will be here in a second to escort you Sir." She told Kuno.

"Thank you Sergeant." He said simply as he waited.

When Michelle walked in, she walked up to Kuno and looked him up and down. "I'm here to escort you to our Colonel Sir." She said shortly, yet respectfully.

"Thank you Sergeant. Please lead on." Kuno responded.

As they started to walk, Michelle kept an eye on him. "Sir, what is the reason that you wish to speak to our Colonel?" She asked, trying to find out why this man wanted to see her boss.

"I've come seeking advice, and hopefully assistance in dealing with an issue that has come up recently." He told her.

"What kind of situation has come up that you would require the assistance of a knighted Lieutenant Colonel?" She asked, very curious about this whole thing.

"I would rather not say at this time, except that it has put me in a very difficult position. Your commander is one of the most Honorable of men that I know of, and I'm sure that he will be able to assist me in getting out of this quandary." Kuno answered.

"Most likely he can. Our Colonel is a very resourceful man, and I've never seen him turn down someone who was in need of help." Michelle commented back as they came to a stop before a heavily sealed door with an intercom next to it. Michelle walked up to the intercom and pressed the button next to it.

"Sir, a Captain Tatewaki Kuno is here to see you, he says its very important." Michelle said.

"I see, please bring him in Michelle." Ranma replied.

"Of course Sir." She responded as they both heard the door buzz before she reached over and opened it, allowing the two entry into Ranma's office.

As they entered the office, Kuno looked around and noted the sparse, plain, yet comfortable furnishings. To him, if he had been a knight and lieutenant colonel, his office would reflect as such. But then he remembered whose office this was, and knew that this man preferred much simpler things, and wasn't one for ostentatious things and the usual trappings of wealth and power. When he looked at Ranma, he noted that nothing had changed in the years since he had last seen his former arch-enemy, except for a new hardness in his eyes. Gone was the carefree look in the man's eyes, and in its place was an implacable will to destroy that which threatened all that he held dear.

"Sir, Captain Tatewaki Kuno." Michelle said as she came to attention next to the door, behind Kuno.

"Thank you Michelle." Ranma said as the door shut, locking the three in the room, as he looked up at his guest. "So what brings you out here Kuno? It's been a long time since we've seen each other." Ranma said as the two stared at each other.

"Yes Sir it has been." Kuno replied simply.

"I noticed that you're a captain now, care to tell me how that happened?" Ranma asked politely.

Kuno flushed with embarrassment but nodded. "I failed to follow your example on how a military man and gentleman should act, and for that I was charged with sexual harassment and was demoted from lieutenant colonel to captain. My _father_ was able to save my career, but not my rank." Kuno explained.

"I see. That is most unfortunate that you had to suffer like that, but I did warn you. It's good to see that you have learned from it though. So, I hear that you're in a bit of trouble, what is it, and how can I help?" Ranma asked politely.

Kuno glanced over his shoulder at Michelle before turning back to face Ranma. "I would like to discuss this privately Sir." He said stiffly.

"Anything you have to say to me can be said in front of Sergeant McKay. She won't repeat anything said here unless I tell her she can." Ranma countered.

Kuno seemed to take a deep breath before he nodded. "If she has your trust, then I'll trust her Sir. This morning my _father_ called and ordered me to defend my sister in her upcoming courts-martial. And while defending her, I was to cast as bad a light as I could on you, all but claiming that it was actually your fault for everything that happened." Kuno told him.

Ranma's expression darkened dangerously. "He gave you an illegal order?" He asked carefully.

"Yes Sir. He was most emphatic about it. He ranted about how this was all your fault and that he would see to it that you paid for your part in my sister being charged for attempted murder and other such crimes." Kuno continued.

"He can't do that!!" Michelle exclaimed as she reached for her comm. link. "I have half a mind….."

"At Ease Sergeant and take that hand away from that comm. link. This is a military matter, and you will _not_ involve your cousins in this." Ranma said coldly to her.

"But SIR! This violates everything that a serving military member and noble is supposed to stand for!" She cried.

"Be that as it may, there is a time and place for telling your cousin things. This isn't one of them. She only wanted to know about things that hinder this unit, this does not. If I find out that you've informed your cousin against my orders, you will not like the consequences, am I understood?" Ranma told her, still radiating a cold fury.

Michelle bowed her head, her body shaking in anger as she nodded jerkily. "Yes Sir, I don't agree with you, but I'll do as ordered." Was her reply through clenched teeth.

Ranma nodded before he turned his attention back to Kuno. "I apologize Captain, but that had to be nipped before things got out of hand. Now then, I have a feeling that you know that I'd tell you to not obey that order, so what brings you here, aside from informing someone of this order?" Ranma asked.

"You're right Sir, I am going to ignore this order, but I'll need protection from my _father_ after the fact. He won't take the betrayal very well, and I want to be in a position that will be unassailable by him or his allies." Kuno said.

"I see. That is a difficult thing to request." Ranma said softly as he stared at the man. He then looked over to Michelle. "Do you have any suggestions Sergeant?"

Michelle blinked, not expecting the question after she had been reprimanded. "Ummm. Well Sir, there are several ideas he could take. The first would be to tell the Inspector General about this. The second would be to go above his father. The third would be to side completely with you." She said after she thought some.

"I can't go to the IG, nor above my _father_, without this all coming back down on me hard. I don't understand about the third choice though. Am I not already siding with you by ignoring this order?" Kuno asked confusedly.

Ranma groaned as he figured out what his guard was meaning. "Actually Kuno, there is a way to side with me in such a manner that removes you completely from the chance of retribution by your father." Ranma said slowly.

"If that is true, then I will gladly take that choice Sir. Since my demotion I have realized how dishonorable the Kuno family has become, and I find myself ashamed with this. I want to show that there is some hope for the Kuno family, and that I can hopefully redeem my family name." Kuno said, looking a little excited at the chance to be honorable again in his eyes.

Ranma sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that Tatewaki. Would you be willing to go so far as to swear and Oath of Fealty to me?" Ranma asked.

Kuno paused for a few seconds, thinking deeply on all the ramifications of this choice. Finally he nodded firmly and looked into Ranma's eyes, his expression as serious as Ranma had ever seen. "Sir Saotome, I swear upon my family blade to serve you. Let me be your sword against your foes. My sword is yours to command, my life is yours." Kuno said as he went on one knee before Ranma, proffering a beautifully crafted katana and sheath to him.

Ranma came around the desk and received the blade, drawing it out just enough to see the stamp just forward of the guard, before he reseated the blade and looked down at Kuno. "I accept your Oath. Arise Tatewaki Kuno, and join the ranks of the Wild Horses of Manticore." Ranma said formally.

As Kuno stood back up, Ranma handed the blade back to him. "Here Tatewaki, you'll need this in the coming days. Carry it with pride like your samurai ancestors did." He said to him.

"Thank you Sir." Kuno said softly as he took the blade back and slipped it into his belt.

Ranma returned to his seat then looked back at Kuno. "So where is your mech stored so that we can get it over here to our motor pool area?" He asked casually.

"Due to my removal from active combat, it is currently stored at the family estate along with the other mechs of our family." Tatewaki responded.

Ranma looked thoughtful before he reached out and punched a number on his console. "Major Hakubi, Staff Sergeant McRory, Lieutenant Liao, report to my office as soon as possible." He said into a mic pickup.

After he finished talking he looked back up to see the curious faces of his two subordinates. While Tatewaki stood there silently, waiting for his new commander and liege to tell him what was going on, Michelle had no such restrictions on her thought process.

"Excuse me Sir, but why all three of them? I can understand Major Hakubi and Lieutenant Liao, but not Sir McRory." She said confusedly.

"There is a very simple explanation Michelle, but I'm going to hold off on it until everyone is here. I don't want to repeat myself any." Ranma said with a slightly evil grin.

Michelle and Tatewaki both accepted their commander's reasons and patiently, or impatiently depending on the person, waited for the other three to arrive. When the others had all arrived, Ranma looked at all of them and smiled at Xian's reaction to seeing Kuno in his office.

"Lieutenant Liao, I am pleased to inform you that you can now step down as the Executive Officer of the Commander's Own. Captain Kuno here out ranks you, and as such I am afraid that I must remove you from that position." Ranma said to her as a form of greeting.

"Sir? Are you sure that is a good idea?" She asked, not caring that she just insulted the man.

Before Ranma could respond, Tatewaki turned to look at her with a flat glare. "Lieutenant, while the Colonel and I have not gotten along well in the past, I have come to understand him and I have learned a lot about him and why he is the way he is since we were young. I also have a great deal of respect for him, and am deeply honored that he accepted my Oath of Fealty. If it is his decision that I am to become his right hand man within his Own company, then it will be as such. I pray that you will assist me in settling into that position smoothly, and without any problems. I look forward to working with you in the future." He said calmly to her.

Xian stared at him slacked jawed, not believing it all at first, until she saw Sergeant McKay nodding her head slowly out of the corner of her eye. Her jaw snapped shut and she looked the captain dead in the eyes. "Of course Captain. I will do my best to aid you as you settle into your new job. It won't be easy as we don't have an official MTOE, nor do we really have much in the way of support personnel. We get most of our support directly from the Headquarters and Headquarters Company." She told him.

"All right, now that that is out of the way, why did you call all of us down here sir?" Angus asked as he looked at them.

"Well that's simple Angus. I've got a little mission for all of you. It seems that the good Captain's 'mech is currently under lock and key at the Kuno estate. I see this as a large problem right now. I also see this as the perfect opportunity to hit the main Kuno family right where it hurts the most." He told them all.

"And how are we going to do that? I think just by having his son as one of ours would be enough, after all, rumor mill has it that his daughter is on the chopping block right now with the higher ups. And now his son has defected to the Crown Loyalist's side? How can we possibly hurt them more than this?" Washu asked curiously.

"They still have their 'mechs Major. That is where we are going to hit them the hardest. All of our transport vehicles are unmarked, as are all of our other vehicles and 'mechs. I want you to get a transport platoon of M-947 HMET's, Sergeant McRory, mobilize the Guardians, full spread, combat loaded. They are to escort the transports to and from the target zone. Lieutenant Liao, get your Amazons airborne, they are to secure the target zone as well as provide forward recon for the ground element. You are also going to go in hot, fully loaded. Also corner Lieutenants Jurai and Tomoe, have them fly top cover. Take everything people, I mean everything. Every 'mech, every spare part, every gram of ammo. I don't want the main Kuno branch to have anything at all. Make clean and don't leave a single thing that gives them the idea that it was us that took their things." He ordered.

"Umm sir, I don't mean to burst your bubble, but what you're ordering is considered illegal and if we get caught we will be in deep shit." Angus said hesitantly, trying to be the voice of reason for once.

"I know Sergeant, but what is the job of this unit? What is our primary mission?" Ranma asked in response.

"To infiltrate an enemy held planet and, using guerilla tactics, do whatever it takes to lower the moral and fighting ability of the enemy." Angus responded promptly.

"And what is a good way to do that if you have the opportunity?" Ranma asked.

"To take from the enemy that which they need to conduct the fight Sir. Such as their spare parts, ammo, and equipment." Tatewaki said, speaking up and adding his two cents, wanting to show that he is willing to be a part of this unit.

"Exactly right Captain. Now then, the main Kuno family has been an opponent of this unit and its purpose since before its creation. That makes them the enemy, therefore they are a perfect opportunity to show the Army and our Commander that we are ready for the next step of our training phase. See to it that this mission gets pulled off people, and there will be no stopping us after that. We'll show them what the Wild Horses are capable of and that you can never defeat us, no matter what you try." Ranma said, trying to encourage his people.

"YES SIR!!!" They all yelled, getting excited at the idea that they were going to be spitting in the eye of their detractors.

TBC

Next time on Redemption: More training! The Battalion shows what they are made of and starts to move from planet to planet, training. New equipment, new ships, and new enemies. But what about Kodachi? Does she go to jail for her crimes? Does she get off scot free, proving that nobility isn't what it should be? Who else will join the Battalion, and the Commander's Own? For all these answers and more, stay tuned for the next episode of 1st Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption!

This is Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome signing off

Wild Horses! Screaming Eagles!

End Authors Notes: Sorry for taking so long, but life has been rather hectic for me as of late. I'm in South Korea, as my last posting stated. I hope that ya'll like this little side bar from what I'm having the main story line going towards. I'll be writing the next main line chapter next, at least I hope so. It all depends on how my muse decides to take me. Until then Please R&R. Flames will be used to keep me and my soldiers warm during these cold Korean nights.

YIS,

Cptdave


	12. Chapter 10

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: I do not own the things that I write here. Well at least not most of them. There are a couple of things that I do, but it was mostly thought up during times of massive tiredness. That which I don't own, I pay homage to those that do, and give them great respect and honor for the great works that they have done.

AN: Well another chapter has arrived. Sorry for the long delay in getting this out to ya'll, but the Army does keep me busy and what not. Between the training exercises and normal garrison work I've been swamped. Combine that with the fact that my muse seems to routinely abandon me for months at a time, it makes it difficult for me to get the things that I want to write, written. Hope ya'll like this chapter, it's the largest one to date!

Chapter 10

Unexpected Surprises

Date

Monday, 1st Day, 8th Month, 3045 TY

Location

1st Dragoons' Motor Pool, Fort McWilliams, Planet Manticore

Time

1500 hours local

Ranma sighed tiredly as he gently backed his beloved Vanquisher up into its bay. He watched as across from him his company XO, Captain Tatewaki Kuno, backed his own Marauder into its bay. It had been a rather tiring field problem for his battalion, and he was glad to be back.

As he started the process of shutting his mech down, his communications board started to flash a notice that he was getting a call. With another tired sigh, he reached over and keyed the system on to voice only.

"This is Wild Horse, whats up?" Ranma asked, trying to keep how tired he was out of his voice.

"Wild Horse, this is Ice Maiden, you might want to hurry what you're doing up. There are some serious VIPs down here waiting for you." Michelle's voice said over the comm. unit.

"Tell them to wait Ice Maiden, I just pulled into my bay and it'll take me at least another half an hour just to shut everything down, no sense in rushing this and damaging my mech ya know." Ranma said a little shortly, not happy with the idea that some VIP punk is trying to rush him.

"Sir, its Royal Three. He seems pretty adamant about talking to you. Something about how our unit isn't spending the money we're being allotted and the fact that they haven't gotten a report from us for over a month now. Also he has the results of the trial that you and the XO had to go to while we were on our last field op." She informed him.

Ranma started to cuss up a storm inside, not letting it come out too much in his voice as he growled at her. "Right now I don't care if it's the Queen herself Michelle! I'm going to shut my mech down properly, then I'm going to climb out of this cockpit and get a quick shower and changed and then I'll meet with Royal Three. Until that happens, I won't see or speak to him. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly clear from my end Sir, I just can't vouch for him. Ummm does this mean that tonight is off for us?" She asked slightly hesitant, not wanting to upset him.

"No Michelle, it's not off." He said with a small smile. "I was looking forward to a nice quiet night with the three of you. I don't know how things would have gone so far if I didn't have the three of you to keep me somewhat grounded in reality."

He sensed more than heard her sigh in relief at his response, though he could hear the smile in her voice when she spoke again. "All right then Sir, I'll see you when you're ready then." She said before she closed the link.

As he finally finished up the shut down procedures, he opened his cockpit up and stood there, breathing in the cool air that flowed through the large mech hangar. He looked out to the gang plank that was before him and to the mechanic standing there calmly. The mechanic looked over his battalion commander, noticing the sweat and grime that covered the cooling vest and fatigue pants that he wore.

"Welcome back Sir. How did she handle out there? Was that little glitch in the left knee fixed?" He asked as Ranma stepped out onto the plank.

"Yeah Frank, it was. Thanks for fixing it that could have been a real bad problem in a fight." Ranma said as he clapped the man on his shoulder with a light smile.

"Glad to get it fixed properly then Sir. It's real nice how S-4 keeps bringing all those spare parts right as we need them. I'd swear they were stealing them from other units, given how troublesome it seems for us to order things properly." Frank responded with a wry grin at his commander.

Both men laughed at the shared joke about how their unit got all its repair parts for this last field problem. Ranma just shook his head as he started to walk away.

"Hey Frank, I noticed a slight increase in the heat output on the ride back, I think a couple of the heat sinks might be needing servicing or replacement soon." Ranma said as he started down the ladder to the ground.

"No problem Sir, I'll get on it ASAP." Frank told him before he left ear shot. As Frank turned to check out the mentioned problem he remembered a message he was supposed to give to Ranma. Turning around to look for him on the ground floor, he noticed that he was too far away to hear him, even if he yelled. "Oh well, he'll figure it out when he gets outside." Frank muttered to himself before he turned around to work his black magic upon the machine before him.

As Ranma hit the ground he linked up with Tatewaki and the two proceeded to leave the hangar, both men eagerly looking forward to getting a shower and then going home. The two men walked in companionable silence, enjoying the sights and sounds of a busy hangar, their neurohelmets dangling from their chin straps on their hips.

Both men froze as they exited the hangar into the mid afternoon sun to see Michelle standing there meekly with the Crown Prince and his escort behind them. Ranma looked from Michelle to his Prince, his expression blank, but Michelle could see the look of annoyance flashing in his eyes.

"Ah, Colonel Saotome, I've been waiting for you for quite some time." William said with a small smile on his face. "You are an extremely difficult man to track down when he doesn't want to be found."

"There is much work to be done Your Highness. Especially if I'm to get this battalion ready for combat. I'm sure your cousin has told you of the work that we have been doing, and still need to do." Ranma said with a meaningful glance at Michelle.

"Hmmm yes, my _cousin_ has indeed been keeping me and mother informed of what has been going on here in your battalion, such as netting Lord Kuno here as a member." William said as he glanced at Kuno. "I'm glad to see that things have been working out better for you Captain. I look forward to seeing all that you can do with the company that our good Colonel has given you."

"I thank you Your Highness, my only hope is that I prove worthy of the trust that has been given to me." Kuno replied graciously.

"If I may be so bold to ask the reason why Your Highness has decided to personally come looking for me?" Ranma asked, wanting to get this over and done with so that he could go home.

"Ahh yes. Mother wants to have a face to face with you Colonel. In fact she sent me to personally bring you to the palace to discuss some things with her privately." William said with a grin.

"If you would just give an hour longer, then I'll be ready to go with you Your Highness. We've just rolled in from a field operation and I'm afraid that I am not currently dressed for a meeting with Her Majesty right now." Ranma said, trying to be diplomatic about the fact that he stunk and needed a shower badly.

"Nonsense Colonel. Her Majesty wants to see you immediately. I, for one, do not want to incur Her wrath, so gather those you think you need and we'll leave as soon as they are gathered." William said, his grin turning slightly evil.

"Of course Your Highness." Ranma said with a sigh, knowing that he has lost this battle. He reached for his personal comm. unit and keyed it, calling a few select people. "Makoto, Tenchi, Ami, Ryoko, Brandon, Hotaru, meet me at the Guardian's vehicles. Angus, keep your vehicles warmed up, seems we're going to go visit the Queen." He told them. In response he got a chorus of 'roger's. He then turned to look at William. "Would you care to travel with us in one of our transports Your Highness?" Ranma asked politely.

"Of course Colonel, it would be a pleasure to travel with the men and women that are sworn to protect me." William said in response. "Just lead the way Colonel. Michael if you would be so kind as to wait for us, and then slide into the middle of their convoy, that way it'll look like I'm in my normal vehicle?" He asked his security chief.

"Certainly Sire, I was going to suggest that very thing." The man said with a grin before he turned around and jogged off to where the Prince's vehicle was waiting.

Once everyone was gathered around the 6 M-41 Maxim's that consisted of the Guardian Platoon's mode of transportation, they entered the vehicles. The party headed to actually see the Queen all boarded the vehicle with the call sign of Guardian 2. As everyone found a seat, with all the infantry taking a seat in the cargo area, Kuno gave a nod of respect to the short woman with staff sergeant insignia.

Ranma reached down and put on his neurohelmet and keyed it into the comm. system of the vehicle. "All Guardian elements, this is Wild Horse, redcon status." He said over the radio.

"This is Guardian 1, we are redcon 1."

"This is Guardian 3, redcon 1."

"This is Guardian 4, redcon 1 and ready to rock and roll."

"This is Guardian 5, redcon 1 Sir."

"This is Guardian 6, redcon 1 red direct Sir."

Ranma looked to the staff sergeant and raised an eyebrow. "Are we ready to go Sergeant Vincent?" He asked.

"Yes Sir, my people are locked and loaded." She replied with a grin.

"Then let's get this patrol underway. All Guardian elements, this is Wild Horse, move out." He said. The Prince was the only one who had to grab a hold of the 'oh shit' handles that were interspersed throughout the cabin as the 50 ton infantry transport started to move out.

As they left the motor pool, the three vehicles that made up the Prince's entourage slid in-between Guardian 3 and Guardian 4, leaving three vehicles in the front, and three in the rear. As the nine vehicle convoy rolled, Guardian 2 led the way to the palace. As they rolled through Fort McWilliams, no one seemed to bat an eye, even with the flight of GSA-5 Mech Busters flying overhead, keeping easy pace with the convoy. That, of course, changed once they transitioned from the base and the country side surrounding it, to Capital City itself. As they traversed the city streets, the citizens couldn't help but stop from time to time to stare at the passing convoy. It wasn't every day that a full military convoy drove through downtown Capital City, even with the Royal Army Academy so close.

They were half way through the city when a sharp green light stabbed out from one of the three story buildings that lined the road. The light, a medium sized laser blast, plowed straight into the vehicle that the Prince would have normally been riding in. The convoy immediately ground to a quick halt at this attack.

"Wild Horse, this is Guardian 4. Royal Three was just attacked, my gunner has PId(1) on the sight, permission to return fire?" Angus's voice said over the communications gear to Ranma.

"Guardian 4 this is Wild Horse. Permission granted, eliminate them with extreme prejudice." Ranma replied with a snarl.

In Guardian 4, Angus and the vehicle's gunner grinned evilly as the turret slew to point its weapon systems at the building. "Gunner, heavy weapon in building. Lasers only." The commander of the vehicle said.

"Identified." Came the gunner's eager, yet grim reply.

"Fire!" the commander ordered.

Outside the vehicles, civilians had started to scatter when the blast was fired from the building. Now they were running and screaming in terror as one of the Royal Army's Maxim Infantry Fighting Vehicles had decided to respond as Guardian 4 opened up with both of its medium lasers into the building.

As his people were firing upon the assassins, Ranma was thinking fast and furiously. He then keyed the comm. and started issuing orders. "Guardians 1, 5 and 6, take your vehicles around to the back side of the building and cordon it off. Guardian 3, drop your troops and form an outer cordon here to protect Royal Three's vehicles, Guardian 4 drop yours here and form a cordon around the front of the building, myself along with Guardian 2 and the others in here are going to assault the building and capture or kill the assassins." He said calmly.

As one the infantry platoon went to work, moving like the well drilled and oiled machine that they were. Though he obeyed his orders, Angus keyed the system to respond. "Wild Horse, this is Guardian 4, I must inform you that it would be unwise for you and the other less armored and armed people of your squad to go into that building. Let my people handle it." Angus said.

"Your advice is noted and logged Guardian 4. I'm overruling it though. We're more than prepared for this." Ranma responded.

As the ramp to Guardian 2 started to drop, Prince William started to stand, as if making to follow them. Ranma saw this out of the corner of his eye and turned and leveled a glare at him. "And just where do you think that you are going Your Highness?" Ranma asked coolly.

"I'm going with you. Those bastards just shot at my vehicle, and probably injured or killed some of my guards!" William said angrily.

"Exactly Your Highness. They shot at your vehicle, which means they were trying to kill you. I am not putting you at risk by letting you go in there. You are the heir to the throne of the Kingdom, you are too important to put at risk like that." Ranma said calmly as he pushed his Prince back into the seat he was standing in front of. "Now sit here and wait for us, don't stick your head out of this vehicle Your Highness, we don't know what these bastards have, or who they are."

"Wild Horse, this is Guardian 4, all elements are set and ready for the operation. There hasn't been any movement from the building yet. The laser fire came from the third floor of the building." Angus reported.

"Roger Guardian 4, we're exiting the vehicle now. The package wanted to escape to help, but I've got it tied down now." Ranma responded as he left the vehicle. Behind him the ramp started to rise up and lock itself tight. As his team and the squad from Guardian 2 lined up behind a couple of parked vehicles outside the front door, Ranma started to gather his Ki. As he finished gathering it, he started to project it out through his voice as he spoke to the building, sounding like a bull horn projected voice without the assistance of one.

"You in the building, I am Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome of the 1st Battalion 1st Dragoons Regiment. I'm giving you the chance to surrender now. If you do so peacefully I swear that I will request that the courts are lenient with your punishment!" Ranma bellowed at the building.

"Why should we believe you monarchist scum? You serve that whore who dares to claim the right to be our leader!" Came a man's voice from the building.

The people around Ranma started to grumble angrily, recognizing the common insult and standpoint of the Sons of Manticore. Ranma reined in his temper as he took a couple of calming breaths before he replied.

"I give you my word as a warrior and martial artist that I will plead for leniency from the courts." Ranma replied.

"And what are you going to do when we don't surrender scum? Go running back to the whore that birthed you crying? You can take your leniency and shove it up your ass and rotate on it scum!" Came the reply.

Before anyone could respond to that, the front door opened and out came a young man, who looked no more than sixteen years of age, he was waving a white piece of cloth as he yelled out. "I surrender! I never asked for this! I don't want to be a part of this anymore!"

"Don't fire!" Ranma ordered his people, sensing that this young man was honest in what he was saying.

"Traitor! You shall suffer a traitor's fate then." Came a yell from the building. After that a shot rang out, an old fashioned slug thrower firing from the second floor. Its target was obvious as the young man pitched forward, blood spraying from his right shoulder as he fell.

"Covering fire!!" Ranma yelled as he ran for the young man lying on the ground, bleeding heavily from his shoulder. Behind him his people opened up on the building with their hyper velocity pulsers, spitting out numerous high velocity 3mm ceramic darts, forcing the terrorists inside to keep their heads down.

As Ranma neared the boy, he slid and scooped him into his arms and continued his slid into the wall of the building, back first. He looked down at the young man and pressed his hand into the boy's shoulder to slow the bleeding. "That was a brave thing you did boy." Ranma said softly to him.

"Am I going to die sir?" The boy asked with a cough, a little blood trickling out of his mouth.

"Not if I can help it. What's your name kid?" Ranma asked as he started to gather his Ki slowly.

"Mike, sir." He responded weakly.

"Well then Mike, I promise you that you'll live." Ranma vowed as he started to pour his gathered Ki into the wound slowly, so as not to make matters worse. As his people watched worriedly from the cars they hid behind, they saw the young man's shoulder slowly stitch itself back together again before their very eyes. Most of them had seen some of the amazing things that their beloved commander could do, but none of them would have believed even in their wildest dreams, that he could heal people who were that badly injured.

While he was healing the boy beneath him, Ranma looked back to his people. Catching the eyes of Michelle he smiled lightly, yet evilly. "Ice Maiden, flash these bastards!" He yelled the order.

Across from him Michelle looked at him like he was crazy before she saw Ranma make a subtle grenade throwing motion with his other hand. She nodded in understanding and looked to Sergeant Vincent next to her. "Sergeant, I'll need a flash bang in every window on the second floor facing us please." She requested.

"Not a problem Sergeant McKay, we'll blind those mother fuckers good!" She snarled out as she motioned for her people to get ready.

"Trying to tempt us away from our chosen path with your own whores Colonel? It won't work! You can't use your whores to distract us from doing what needs to be done!" Came a snide voice from the building.

"Oh I am so going to _**hurt**_ that bastard the first chance I get." Michelle snarled angrily.

"You'll get your chance lass." Said a tall corporal that was sitting next to her. As one the whole squad of seven reared their arms back and threw their flash bang grenades into the various windows facing the street. Almost as one the seven grenades went off, causing cries of anger and disbelief among the terrorists. After they went off, the squad rushed forward to link up with their commander.

Ranma looked up at them and smiled as he gently pulled his hand away from the kids shoulder, revealing an angry pink shoulder, but no gaping wound. He then passed the young man off to Makoto. "Makoto, take him back to Angus and watch over him. He's going to be sacred shitless when he comes to, and I know you're good with keeping kids like him calm." He said gently to his sister.

"Sure thing Sir. I'll watch over him until he's better." Makoto promised as she gently moved back to where her boyfriend's vehicle was and entered the back of it to take care of her charge.

Everyone watched as she left, most angry at what had happened to the young man. Ranma smiled lightly and then cleared his throat. "Okay people, focus. We'll make these bastards pay for what they've done. Tenchi, I want you to take Ami, Tatewaki, Brandon, Ryoko, and Hotaru, along with half of Guardian 2's squad and clear the first floor. Michelle, Sergeant Vincent, you and the other half of your squad are going to come with me and we're taking the second and third floors. If you can, keep weapons on stun, your other people, aim to wound." Ranma ordered.

"Any wounding shots we make with these things are likely to rip off limbs Sir." Said a petite young looking Sergeant hefting her pulse rifle.

"Be that as it may Sergeant Hopkins, I want as many of them alive to face the hangman as we can get." Ranma replied.

Everyone nodded at their orders, and with that Tenchi waved the corporal forward with his team to enter the still open front door first. As the corporal led his team in, Tenchi followed with everyone else not long after that, all of them moving to secure the first floor. Ranma and the others moved to the stairs and started to climb it. Ranma, Michelle and Sergeant Vincent kept their new Ki rifles on stun as they led the way up the stairs.

"Your pulse rifle armed people are to stay in the hall Sergeant, the three of us will clear each room." Ranma ordered.

"Roger Sir." Sergeant Vincent replied.

As they slowly cleared each room, making sure that no enemy was hiding in a closet or something, they came to the last room on the second floor. Before Ranma touched the door he paused. He stretched out with his senses to see what might be on the other side of the door. They knew that someone was on the second floor, yet they hadn't encountered anyone yet. Sure enough his Ki senses were telling him that there were five people on the other side of the door, all of them very hostile and projecting a small amount of killing Ki. Ranma looked back at the Sergeant with him and raised an eyebrow.

"You got anymore flash bangs on you?" He asked.

"No Sir, I don't, but give me a second." She answered. She then turned and looked down the hall way as she keyed her squad link. "May, I need a couple of flash bangs, the special ones." She said.

Being as close as they were Ranma overheard the response over the net. "You sure Rally? I haven't finished testing those yet. They might not be completely safe yet." Was the response.

Rally looked over at her commander and raised an eyebrow at him, knowing he heard. Ranma looked thoughtful but then nodded, getting an evil, yet grim, look. "Yeah May, I'm sure. Bring them on down here then get back into position." She ordered.

"Roger Rally, I'll be down there in a second."

Not long after that, the short sergeant came into view from further down the hall way. She jogged up and handed a couple of weird looking grenades to Rally. "Be careful with these, they're untested and I don't know how effective they will be, or if they won't put out shrapnel or not." She warned.

"We'll be careful May." Ranma said, his evil grin still on his face.

May looked over at her battalion commander and nodded slowly. "I guess you will sir. Good hunting then." She said before she turned around and started to jog back to her position.

Rally looked at her commander and pulled one of the pins on the grenade while he pulled the other one. At his nod she cooked them off and they counted to three before Ranma opened the door wide enough that she rolled the two grenades into the room. He then slammed the door shut and waited. The door almost was blown off its hinges from the blast as the two grenades went off like a hammer of god. As the door swung open on its own, the three warriors burst into the room, expecting to see men that were still somewhat dangerous, even if they were stunned from the grenades. Instead they found five unconscious men who were scattered about as if thrown like rag dolls by an angry child, a couple were bleeding from their ears.

"Well that was rather anti-climatic Sir." Michelle said as she started to truss up the men, tying the knots tightly and none too gently.

"Indeed it was. I think I know who is becoming our new explosives and EOD expert for the battalion." Ranma commented as he helped his personal guard and girlfriend.

"Only so long as I can keep her Sir. I need her to keep control of her team, otherwise things will get a little hairy between those two." Rally commented as she finished tying up the one she was working on.

"I think we can arrange that, now lets get these bastards out of here." Ranma said as he picked up two of them and started to walk down the hallway. Michelle and Rally each grabbed one and dragged theirs down the hall. As they reached the stairs they handed them off to the team there and Ranma jogged back to get the last one. When he got back with the last one he keyed his mike.

"Knight Six, this is Wild Horse Six over." Ranma said.

"Wild Horse Six, this is Knight Six, go ahead." Tenchi replied.

"I've got five live ones for ya on the second floor landing, if the first floor is clear, come get these and take them to Guardian Three. The second floor is clear and we'll be moving up to the third floor." Ranma told him.

"Roger Wild Horse Six, first floor is clear now, no basement was found. We'll come and pick up the prisoners and then take over the second floor guard duty." Tenchi responded.

"Roger, this is Wild Horse Six, out." Ranma said as he ended the conversation. "Rally, leave one here, the rest will come up with us to the third floor. Captain Misaki should be up here in a second to take over duties here and take these scumbags to Guardian Three. When they get here, your soldier can rejoin us."

"Campos, you're it. Stay here until the good Captain relieves you of duty." Rally told the young private with the squad's automatic weapon.

"Roger Sergeant, I'll keep these scums in line if they should wake up." The tall young man said with an evil grin as he stroked his light machine gun.

The group left the young private with his guests as they walked cautiously up the stairs to the final floor. Somewhere on this floor is where the attack came from, which meant there were enemy up here somewhere. As they searched each room, it was disturbingly like the floor below, where each room was as empty as the last. When they neared the last room, the one where Guardian Four had fired, they all feared there would be a serious fire fight here. The squad was completely out of flash bangs and there just had to be enemies behind this door. Rally grabbed the door knob and said a quick prayer before she threw it open and stormed into the room, quickly followed by Ranma and Michelle.

The vision that greeted the three was something straight from hell. There were laser burns everywhere. A man-packed medium extended range laser lay mangled and melted on the floor, one of the laser shots having obviously ripped it apart. There was a hole blown in the wall from the other laser that had been fired in reply. All about the room were bits and pieces of what might have been three or four men. Blood was splashed all over the room, and where laser flash burn hadn't turned it black, the blood had turned it red. Michelle left the room almost as quickly as she entered, and outside the room they could hear her throwing up what little was in her stomach. Rally swallowed the bile that rose in her throat, yet kept her cool. Ranma looked about dispassionately as he quickly and deeply entered the Soul of Ice.

"Looks like one of the lasers hit one of them head on." Ranma casually commented on, pointing to the pair of feet that were standing in a large radius of blood.

"Yeah sure looks like it Sir." Rally replied distractedly.

"ranma?" Michelle said quietly from the door.

Ranma turned around, his cold expression and gaze causing her to flinch as she looked at the man she loved, having never seen this side of him. Ranma's gaze softened as he looked at her, gaining some of its warmth back. "Yes Michelle?" He asked in reply.

"How can you stand being in there? This is horrible." She said softly, tears in her eyes as she tried hard not to look at the carnage that they had unleashed upon the poor souls in this room.

Rally looked at her weirdly before shaking her head. After all Michelle was a mechwarrior, she didn't have to really see the carnage that warfare visited upon people like she did and had.

Ranma started to leave, taking Michelle by her arm to escort her downstairs. "I can stand being there because I've seen worse Michelle. You know I'm a combat veteran. So is Rally, and a lot of the other members of the Commander's Own. As bad as this will sound, you'll get used to seeing it. You don't have to like it, I personally hate seeing things like that, but if I don't do my job, then things like that will happen to innocent men and women. Children will have to see that, and I don't want that. That is how I can stand being in a place like that, seeing things like that." He told her softly as he walked down the stairs with her. As they came to the second floor, Ranma looked at Tenchi. "We'll need bags for the rest of it Tenchi. Laser blast took out three or four of them I'd guess. Hard to tell with how wide spread the carnage is."

Tenchi nodded and looked at Ryoko. "Captain Hakubi, would you mind getting us a couple of trash bags please. This is going to be messy work." He told her.

"Yeah I got ya Captain Misaki, I've done battle field clean up before." She responded before she left to get the requested items.

As they left the building Ranma and Michelle headed for where Makoto and Angus were at. Ranma looked over his shoulder at Rally briefly. "Sergeant, would you be so kind as to notify His Highness about the situation please. I'm going to go check on Mike." He asked.

"Sure thing Sir. Is it okay to let him out of the vehicle, he's probably chopping on the bit right now." She responded.

"Sure let him out to check on his men, just keep a tight guard on him while ya do. I don't want to have to explain to Her Majesty why we let her little boy get hurt." Ranma said as they moved out of earshot.

When they got to Guardian Four, they found Ami and Hotaru there as well, waiting for them. As they walked up Hotaru and Ami moved forward and hugged them both comfortingly. Michelle wrapped her arms around them and started to cry into their shoulders, still unsettled by what she had seen in that room. Ranma just sighed and wrapped his arms around all three of them, content to be near the women that he was falling in love with.

"Ranma, there is someone who wants to talk to you." Makoto said softly from behind them.

Ranma looked over his shoulder at her and smiled grimly at her. "In a second Mako-chan. Michelle just saw something akin to what we went through on Mersedas." Ranma told her.

Makoto's eyes widened at that and moved to help comfort the younger woman. "Shhh Michelle, it'll be okay. We're here for you." She said softly to her. "We'll help you through this little sister."

Ranma had stepped back to let his sister in to help and didn't hear what she had said, while the other two women did. They both nodded fiercely in agreement, trying to reassure the young woman that all would be okay.

"You've seen things like that haven't you Makoto?" Michelle asked hesitantly.

"Yes I have. You aren't alone Michelle. You've got me and Ranma to help you through this, we've both seen worse than this. I'm sure Ami and Hotaru will stand by you as well." Makoto responded. Both of the other women nodded in agreement, giving her another hug.

Ranma cleared his throat behind them, getting their attention. "Let's go see what the lad has to say to us, shall we?" Ranma said softly to them.

They all nodded and entered the back of the vehicle. Inside, Makoto had lain him down on a bench seat. Mike was looking up at the roof of the vehicle, almost looking like he was ready to die. When Ranma and the girls came in, he looked over at them, his expression one of someone who would welcome death, if that is what had come to visit him.

"Are you going to kill me Sir?" Mike asked in a dead voice.

"No I'm not Mike, not after all the trouble I went to in order to save your life." Ranma replied softly.

"Why did you save me? I'm a terrorist, a member of the Sons of Manticore. Someone that should be killed for trying to kill the Crown Prince." He responded.

"Did you pull the trigger son? Were you a look out? Or are you a member because your father told you that was what you were and he didn't give you a choice?" Ranma asked softly, kneeling next to the young man.

Mike flinched away from Ranma, as if fearing him. "No I didn't pull the trigger. I didn't want anything to do with this. I've spoken with people who have met the Queen and her son. They've had nothing but good things to say about them. Why would I want to kill innocent people, good people?" Mike asked in confusion.

Ranma looked back at Michelle and the others, looking into each of their eyes before he turned back around and smiled warmly at him. "I see no terrorist before me. I see a true son of Manticore who wanted to protect those that needed to be protected. I see a son of Manticore who wasn't given a choice until just now, and when he saw a chance he took it, risky though it was, to flee from something he knew was wrong." Ranma said with a warm smile.

"But my father and my two brothers, they're dead aren't they? They were manning that laser that they had acquired." Mike asked.

Ranma closed his eyes, a few tears leaking out of the corners to fall silently down his face, shocking his three girlfriends, who had never seen him cry. "Yes son, they are. I promise you, it was quick though, they didn't feel a thing." Ranma told him.

Mike started to cry for the loss of his family. Ranma swiftly gathered the boy in his arms and hugged him, letting him cry himself out. The girls all swiftly joined him in comforting the distraught young man, each one whispering soft words of encouragement and sympathy.

As his sobs slowly tapered off, he looked at all the people surrounding him. "I've got nothing left. My mother died six years ago, and now the rest of my family died in an attack I told them we shouldn't do. What am I going to do now?" He asked fearfully.

Ranma looked a little lost at how to approach this one. He looked over his shoulder at Makoto to see the same confusion that he felt. Suddenly Michelle smiled at him and patted him softly on the arm.

"You can live with us son." She said confidently. She looked at Ami and Hotaru with a smile. "Isn't that right sisters? He'll live with us, we'll take care of him."

Hotaru nodded enthusiastically, while Ami nodded with a content smile on her face. Michelle turned to look at Ranma. "Besides honey, I think it's high time you had someone to care for besides us, someone you can teach and train."

Mike looked at all four of them in confusion. "Umm are all of you related?" He asked hesitantly.

Ranma chuckled but shook his head. "No Mike we're not related, at least not all of us. Let me introduce you. I am Ranma Saotome. The tall brunette is my sister Makoto. The auburn colored one is my girlfriend Michelle McKay. The short blue haired one is my girlfriend Ami Mizuno. And the short dark purple haired young beauty is my girlfriend Hotaru Tomoe." Ranma said. "Everyone this is Mike."

Mike looked at them all in confusion. "Wait a minute, these are all your girlfriends? But isn't that cheating?" He asked in confusion.

"Naw Ranma-kun has a position on Grayson, and as you should know from your schooling, they allow for multiply wives. The girls have all agreed to share Ranma, so it's actually quite easy for him." Makoto said with an evil grin directed at her brother.

Mike shook his head at it all but accepted it. He then started to look scared. "What is going to happen to me now? Am I going to be sent to prison or something?" He asked fearfully.

The girls all looked shocked that they would even allow something like this to happen. Ranma stared at him for a second before he sighed.

"Mike, how old are you?" He asked softly.

"I'm thirteen Sir. I know I don't look it. The men of my family hit physical maturity very quickly." Mike started to look sad again, remembering that all of his family was now dead. "But what about the Sons? They'll try to kill me!" He asked.

Ranma and everyone stared in shock at him, not realizing that he was so young. Ranma shook himself out of it and then smiled softly at the young boy.

"That's the easy part Mike. No one dares to strike at the Saotome family. You'll be safe with us." Ranma assured him.

Mike looked confusedly at him. "Then why wouldn't they strike at me? I'm not part of the Saotome family at all." He asked.

"Mike, is that your real name or a nickname?" Hotaru asked him softly.

Mike looked over to her, and couldn't help but answer at the pleading look that Hotaru was giving him. "No it's a nickname my mother gave me. My real name is Michael Ryan McConnelly." He told them.

The four women all looked at each other and smiled softly at being able to get an answer from the obviously distraught boy. Ranma looked at him with a semi-serious expression on his face.

"Hmmm. I think that Michael Ryan Saotome has a nice ring to it, don't you think so Makoto?" Ranma asked her seriously.

"That depends Ranma, is he a sibling?" She asked as seriously as he did.

Everyone stared at Ranma waiting for his response. Slowly he started to shake his head. "No not a sibling." He said, then looked Michael in the eyes. "Michael, if you'll accept me, I want to adopt you as my son." He said gently.

Mike stared at all five of the people before him, not really believing that these warriors were so tender and kind enough to offer him a place in their lives after what his family had just tried to do. "How can you offer me this? What if I was a plant or something? Or a sleeper agent? You would have no way to know for certain until it was too late." He asked, trying to figure out why they were doing this to him.

Ranma simply stared at the boy, while the four women looked at each other briefly before Ami turned to answer.

"Michael, son, Ranma wouldn't have offered if he didn't feel you wouldn't have been able to bring pride and joy to the Saotome name and family. He has ways of knowing things about people that we have yet to fully understand." She said to him.

"I do indeed Michael. I can tell a great many things about people just by looking at them. I'm a very skilled martial artist and can read the auras that people put out naturally. It's because of this that I can tell that you're an honest young boy stuck in a difficult position. You're honorable, and full of life. You want to push yourself to new horizons and find out all there is to know about life. All of this I can see in you that is why I offer you a place in the Saotome family, and more importantly as my son. I see in you all the things that I myself held when I was your age." Ranma told him.

Michael looked at him with wonder, and then he looked at all the others. "Can you do that with anyone? Like everyone here?" He asked softly. "I don't want to be hurt anymore, but I _know_ I can trust you. I don't know how I know this, I just do."

"You just don't know if you can trust my sister or my girlfriends eh? Understandable, you've been hurt a lot lately by family. Would you like it if I told what I saw in each of them?" He asked

Michael nodded hesitantly in agreement. The four women at first looked upset at being doubted in their sincerity and the fact that they wanted what would be best for the young boy. When Ranma looked at them calmly, almost pleadingly though, they quietly agreed to do what he was requesting.

"Who do you want me to start with Mike?" Ranma asked him softly.

"Umm, could you start with the ones who might become my mothers?" He asked at a whisper so only Ranma could hear him. Ranma nodded and turned to look at the three women that he was coming to love.

He first looked at Hotaru and graced her with a small smile as he started to read her aura. "Hotaru Tomoe, her inner beauty is a thing to behold. Gentle and kind almost to a fault, with hands that could soothe any hurt. She has the healer's touch, and the potential to actually heal any wound with just the touch of her hands. Yet on the other side she bears the capacity to destroy things, maybe even the power to crack the very world that we are standing on. This power is held in check by her love of people, especially her family, and me." Ranma trailed off at the end, stunned by how much his youngest girlfriend loved him. He had never thought to scan any of the women whom he dated, it just hadn't seemed like the right thing to do, and he was humbled by how much he was loved by this one woman. With trepidation he moved to Ami, part of him afraid to not find the same love for him as he found in Hotaru, yet at the same time afraid that it was there.

"Ami Mizuno, a brilliant mind hidden behind a beautiful face. Though she could have gotten numerous doctorate degrees with her intelligence, she has chosen instead to bend her mighty intellect to defending that which she loves. She has a tactical mind that few, if any could dare hope to match, yet this mind pales in comparison to how large and loving a heart she has. She will do anything for the ones she calls family, even if it means sharing the man that she has come to love." Again Ranma trailed off stunned that Ami loves him just as much and is willing to share.

He then moved to Michelle, the first one to approach him to be his girlfriend, and the first one that he had started to fall in love with since Akane. "Michelle McKay, a woman of deep passions, and deeper loyalties. Once she gives her heart or friendship, she will stand by you through hell itself. With a sharp mind and quick wits, she's always ready to either help or cheer you up. Though she has a deep rooted fear of a secret being discovered, she doesn't let it affect how much she loves me and her fellow girlfriends. She tries her best to do what is right, but fears her secret may ruin what she has." Ranma paused as he looked deep into her aura, Michelle started to look nervous, causing Ami and Hotaru to slide closer to her to comfort her. Suddenly Ranma straightened up and looked at her in shock. "Princess?" Was all he whispered in confusion as he stared at her.

"Please Ranma, you must keep it a secret, all of you must. If my father were to find out then you'd be thrown in prison. I could never live with myself if that happened. I love you too much. I've been trying so hard to keep this from coming out or affecting you." She said pleadingly to them, tears in her eyes.

"Shh it's all right Michelle. We'll keep it quiet." Hotaru said as she hugged her friend.

Michael walked over to her and hugged her gently, then looked up into her teary eyes. "I'd be honored to call you mother some day." He said softly to her.

Sara started to cry harder, this time with happy tears as she hugged the boy tightly to her. "And I'll be honored to call you my son Michael." She said happily.

Ranma stood there looking at the four as they were hugging each other, until his sister nudged him in the back. He looked over at her and she motioned for him to join them. Slowly Ranma moved over to the group and wrapped his arms around all of them. All four were suffused with a feeling of warmth, safety and love as Ranma hugged them all. Michael looked up only to see a pinkish yellow glow surrounding them all. He gasped, drawing the three women's eyes to him. He then motioned to around them, causing the women to gasp as well as they saw the glow that surrounded them. Ami was the first one to find her voice.

"Ranma, is this your aura?" She asked reverently.

Makoto was the one to speak up as Ranma appeared too choked up with emotion to speak. "Yes it is Ami-chan. The yellow that you're seeing is Ranma's confidence, something that he has in spades. The pinkish glow however is his love for all of you." She said softly.

The three women looked at him, seeking confirmation from him. All Ranma could do is nod in reply, agreeing with his sister. The three all smiled gently at him, happy that for now they knew he loved them, even if he couldn't say it yet.

"Does this mean I have a real family?" Michael asked softly, looking at everyone.

"It does indeed Mi-kun!" Makoto said with a large grin. "Welcome to the family nephew, I know what its like to be adopted into the Saotome family, trust me, you couldn't be in better hands than ours."

Before more could be said there was a pounding on the back hatch of the Maxim. The glow slowly died away and everyone separated before the escape door in the ramp was opened up. Angus stuck his head in and smiled at everyone inside.

"Hey boss, the perps are all tied up and thrown in Guardian Three now. No one was injured in the Prince's guards, and His Highness is eager to get on the road again. Seems Her Majesty called him and asked what was taking you so long. I suggest that we hurry things a mite." Angus said to them.

Ranma smiled happily at his friend. "All right Angus, we'll get back on our track and get ready to roll. Oh before we do that I'd like to introduce you to my son. Angus this is Michael Ryan Saotome, Michael, this is my good friend and your aunt's boyfriend, Staff Sergeant Angus McRory."

Angus looked the lad over and grinned at him. "Welcome to the family kid. You'll love being a Saotome, trust me." He said in greeting.

Michael looked at him and smiled happily at Angus. "I already do Sir, I already do."

"All right, let's get back to our vehicle and get this circus on the road. Is the limo capable of moving Angus?" Ranma asked as they started to leave the vehicle.

"Yes it is. Whoever built that thing knew what they were doing. The rest of the platoon is ready to go as well. Shouldn't be longer than another fifteen minutes to the palace I would say." Angus reported.

"Thank you Angus. We'll see you there then." Ranma replied as he escorted everyone back to Guardian Two and they boarded it again.

Once everyone was seated again, the vehicles got rolling once more. As they rolled the Prince looked over at Michael and just shrugged before he looked at Ranma and Tatewaki.

"Ranma, Tatewaki, I have the results of the court martial here." William said as he pulled out a file from a briefcase that was sitting next to him. He then handed it over to Ranma, who in turn handed it to Tatewaki.

"Here Kuno, she was your sister, you should be the first one to read what the court decided." Ranma said in simple explanation.

"Thank you Sir." Kuno said as he took the file and started to read it. The further into the file he read, the more upset he seemed to get. When he was done reading it, there were tears in his eyes. "How could she have let her hate fester like this for so long? How could she stand to fall so low as to commit these crimes? I don't understand any of it." He asked as he looked at his battalion commander.

"I don't know either Kuno. If I did, I would have done everything in my power to help her. I may not have liked her much, but no one deserves to have fallen that low." Ranma responded.

Kuno took a deep and shuddering breath before he handed the file back to the prince with a nod of thanks. "Well what is done is done, and she is paying for her crimes. She is beyond my help now. Father will not be pleased either. I fear that from here on out things will only get more difficult for us Sir. My Father will see that this is our entire fault that his daughter was put into prison."

"I know Kuno, but there is nothing to be done for it. We only did what our duty required of us to do." Ranma said quietly.

Suddenly they felt the vehicle slow down and then stop entirely. Ranma listened to the comm. traffic briefly before the back ramp started to slowly drop. Ranma smiled as he turned to the Prince as the ramp finished traveling to the ground. "Well Your Highness, you are now safe and sound back at the Palace. Thank you for riding Wild Horse Taxi service and please don't hesitate to look us up in the future for your traveling needs." Ranma said with a wry grin.

William shook his head at the antics that were going on before him. He then carefully got off of the vehicle and went to his own, wanting to look at it and find out for himself that all of his people were okay before he did anything else. While he made his inquiries, Ranma gathered all of his people together and looked them over.

"Angus, you're going to come with me, but go ahead and leave all of your other people here. I'm going to take my company commanders, my girlfriends and my son with me." Ranma informed him.

"No problem Sir. Sergeant Vincent, perimeter guard around the vehicles, classic wagon wheel. I don't want any of these palace sods to see us slacking. Until we get back to Wild Horse territory we are in hostile territory, is that clear?" Angus ordered.

"Clear as crystal Sergeant!" She responded sharply. "All right ladies, you heard the boss. I want these vehicles in a wagon wheel yesterday! Guns out and fully up! No resting yet! You can rest when we're set!" She started ordering the platoon into action, though they groaned at not being able to relax just yet.

As Ranma and company walked away from the platoon, they met up with Prince William. William looked oddly at Michael for a second before looking at Ranma.

"Umm Colonel, I know about the lad here. Are you sure…." He said cautiously.

Ranma interrupted his Prince smoothly. "My son will be perfectly behaved before Her Majesty Your Highness." Ranma assured him. He looked down at Michael with a grin. "Won't you Mike?"

Mike looked up at his new father, a surprised look on his face. "You mean I actually get to meet the Queen?! Wow……I'll be on my best behavior dad!" He said, a fierce look on his face, trying to impress the prince that he meant what he said.

The Prince looked down at the young boy, and tried his hardest to hate him because of who he used to belong to. But try as he might, he couldn't find it in him to hate the boy. He sighed as he gave in to the inevitable as he fell in step with the company.

"What are you planning on doing with the prisoners Colonel?" William asked as they entered the palace proper.

"Oh we're going to interrogate them and then we'll turn them over to the authorities. I'm sure they'll provide us with some interesting intelligence." Ranma commented casually as they walked down the corridors. He watched his new son look about in awe as they walked amusement clear on his face at the wonder that his son was displaying at seeing everything that had been built in this castle.

As they walked through the castle the Prince kept coming back to look at Ranma and his _cousin_, as well as the others that were with him. Every one of them was deeply connected to Ranma in some way or another. Either they had served with him before, or were his friends or even family. As he walked he thought about how Ranma was in command of what was probably the single most powerful unit in the military. The Prince was very thankful that he was on the Crown's side and not a member of one of the Opposition Parties. His eyes then drifted to Ranma's new son. Though he hadn't pressed the issue further, and he didn't hate the young boy, he just couldn't bring himself to trust him at all. After all if you were willing to betray your family once, wouldn't you be willing to betray so much more than just that?

When they came to a large set of double doors that were guarded by two men, the group came to a halt. William stepped forward and looked at the guards with a smile.

"I believe that Her Majesty is expecting me and my guests." He said lightly to them.

"Indeed Your Highness. She has been waiting for a while to talk to the good Colonel." One of the guards said with a smirk as he turned to open the doors so that the group could walk in.

"Thank you Sergeant." William said as he started to walk through the door.

Before Ranma and his group could go through though, the sergeant of the guard stopped him and his people.

"Sir, just wanted to let you know, Her Majesty isn't happy with some of the things that are being said about your unit. Seems the Consort has been getting certain intelligence about your unit and he's been making it seem like your unit isn't doing what it should be and that you're a disgrace. She is also having to deal with the fact that Her husband has been trying like hell to find their daughter." He told them as he looked pointedly at Michelle with a smile. "If I were you, I'd try to make this as short as possible. He doesn't know that you're here right now, and we're all trying to keep it that way, but you know how these walls have ears and eyes."

"Thank you Sergeant. We'll keep that in mind, and thanks for the warning." Ranma said seriously, everyone behind him nodding just as seriously.

As everyone entered the chamber beyond, they saw that the only people in it were Her Majesty and the Crown Prince.

As everyone entered and the door shut behind them, they all took their seats in the couches that were around the room. Ranma sat at one of them, flanked on either side by Hotaru and Michelle, beside Michelle sat Michael and Ami beside him. Behind them stood Angus, carefully watching their backs. The other captains spread themselves around the room facing the royal pair.

The Queen leveled a glare at the gathered members of the 1st Dragoons as they all got comfortable, in the process making the couches and chairs that they were sitting in very dirty.

"Ranma, why haven't you contacted me in over a month? Not even your division commander has heard from you for over a month. Why is it that I have to send my son in order to get some kind of a report from you? Why haven't you been spending any of the money that the Army is giving you, aside from simple office supplies?" Natsumi asked, almost snarling in anger.

Ranma looked at everyone then back at his Queen before he answered. "Your Majesty, we've been in the field for the past month plus. We were ironing out some of the rough edges in the unit that can only be accomplished by operating together in a real environment, rather than in the simulators." Ranma said calmly to her.

"That still doesn't explain why you aren't spending the money that the Army is allocating to your unit. Nor does it explain the fact that there are some ugly rumors being spread about how your unit isn't doing any kind of training at all, that you're just going to the field to hide and not be found so that you all can goof off or something!" She continued to rage.

Ami gently cleared her throat, drawing the attention of her angry monarch away from her love and to herself. "Your Majesty, I have here a report of where every penny that our battalion has spent, and where it has gone." She said as she pulled out a data pad from one of her carry vest pockets and handed it over to her.

The Queen took the pad from her so fast that Michael checked his mother-to-be's fingers to make sure they weren't friction burned. While the Queen searched through the files on the pad, the other members of the battalion smiled at seeing the interplay between the soon to be Saotome son and his mother-to-be. Ami smiled softly at him and thanked him for his concern. Michael blushed lightly and smiled back at her, pleased that his concern was well received.

The data pad landed at Ranma's feet as the Queen tossed it to him as she glared at them. "What is this Project NS, and Project ST? And why are you putting so much money into them?" She asked accusingly.

Ranma carefully picked up the pad and handed it back to Ami before he addressed his Queen's questions. "Projects NS and ST are our contributions to the Haumptmann Cartel, which is currently building our interstellar transport assets Your Majesty. The extra money that we've been putting into those projects alone has sped up the completion date by over five months, and if we continue to funnel funds into those projects we might be able to complete them over a year ahead of schedule, which would mean that my battalion will be combat ready in an even shorter time frame than the General Staff had hoped for when they authorized the formation of my unit."

Natsumi seemed to calm down somewhat when she was told that tidbit of information, yet she still seemed upset as she looked over at them. "That still doesn't explain why you haven't been spending the money on supplies like spare parts and ammo. Nor does it explain what exactly you have been doing this past month."

"There seemed to be a lot of spare parts and ammo lying around lately Your Majesty." Ryoko said casually as she leaned back in the recliner that she was sitting in, which just happened to be the King's favorite chair.

Natsumi and her son turned to stare at her, as if not believing in what they were just told. That the whole reason they hadn't spent money on parts and ammo had been because they were stealing it from other units or something similar.

"What I think Ryoko means is that there seems to have been quite a large amount of ammo, spare parts and even fuel that seems to have been left unsecured lately. And our battalion has been doing the right thing in securing it before someone, like the Sons of Manticore, get their hands on it and use if for their own means." Brandon said with a small smile as he looked at his fellows.

"That still sounds like your battalion is stealing its supplies Ranma." Natsumi commented as she looked sharply at him.

"All we are doing is training Your Majesty." Ranma replied formally. "We are doing the exact thing that our mission statement will require us to do once we deploy to a hostile planet."

"I see. Well why don't you introduce me to the young man that you've brought with you Ranma. I'm interested in knowing more about him." Natsumi said as she looked at the group on the couch.

As Ranma and the girls went into explaining how Michael ended up with them and his whole situation, Angus tilted his head to the side as his comm. unit signaled for his attention.

"This is Guardian Four, go ahead." He whispered into the mic.

"Guardian Four, this is Two, the local military personnel are starting to ask some rather pointed questions and things are starting to look a little dicey out here. I don't think they're happy with us being here in full gear and with prisoners in our vehicles." Rally informed him.

"Thanks Two, I'll let Wild Horse know and I'll try to get them all moving as quickly as we can." He replied as he closed down the link. Angus waited until there was a break in the conversations that were going on before he gently broke into them. "Excuse me Sir, but SSG Vincent just contacted me. Seems the locals are getting a little antsy about us being here. They're starting to ask pointed questions about why we're here and our cargo. I'd recommend that we get going soon." He said politely.

Ranma looked over his shoulder at Angus and looked him in the eyes. Reading the hidden message that he found there, he nodded in agreement. He then turned back to look at his Queen. "I'm afraid that Angus does have a point Your Majesty. We really should be going anyway. There is still much work for us to be doing before we're done for the day." Ranma informed her.

"I understand Ranma. I have taken up your time when you've just come back in. Just remember to stay in contact with me and keep me informed of what is going on with your unit, or I'll have to do this again." She said in mock threat as she waved a fist at him.

"Of course Your Majesty, we'll remember to keep you better informed from now on." Ranma conceded as he and the rest of his people stood up and started to leave.

As the Wild Horse team walked down the halls of the palace, heading back for their vehicles, they ran into the last person that they wanted to, the King.

"What are _you_ doing here _Colonel_?" The King said as he glared at the group of warriors that stood before him.

"We were here for a meeting with Her Majesty, your Majesty." Ranma replied crisply. "We are just now leaving to return to our base."

"Good, the palace doesn't need to be fouled further by the presence of your kind." He said contemptuously.

"By your leave then you Majesty." Ranma said with a short bow to him. They then all turned around and started to leave. Michelle was hoping that her Father wouldn't recognize her, as she hadn't completed all of her plans, and she had grown to like being back in uniform again.

Before they had gotten too much further, the King suddenly appeared in front of Michelle, causing the whole group to stop suddenly. Everyone turned to look as the King seemed to stare intently at Michelle, causing her to become nervous and start to sweat, though you couldn't really tell with how her cooling vest and pants were already sweat stained.

"Can I help you Your Majesty?" She asked a little hesitantly, uncertain as to why he was staring at her so intently.

"You look very familiar for some reason young lady." He said thoughtfully as he stared at her.

Ranma cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the King with an annoyed glare in his direction. "She may look familiar to you Your Majesty because she is your niece. This is Sergeant Michelle McKay, one of my mechwarriors and also one of my personal guards." Ranma told him calmly.

The King spun around and looked intently at her again. "Michelle? I thought that you were a mechanic in a shop out in the Capital? When did you decide to join the Army?" He asked her.

"A couple of years ago Uncle." She said with a small tremulous smile. "I was just recently reassigned into Colonel Saotome's unit."

"I see." He said as he started to leave. "I will pray for your soul then. Strange that your parents didn't tell either of us that you had joined."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief before they started to leave again. Ranma then glanced over at his girlfriend. "You know how to get where you cousin lives Michelle?" He asked softly.

"Yeah I do. Are we going to go pick her up and bring her with us?" She asked him.

"Yeah I was thinking of that. That way your cover story works out. We'll get her a file and everything, as well as start training her in being a mechwarrior. Gods, if everyone knew what we were planning right now, we'd all be in deep trouble." Ranma said with a smirk. The rest of the team laughed as they exited the palace and boarded the transports without any more troubles. They then left, heading not in the direction of their home base, but instead towards where the real Michelle McKay lived.

To Be Continued.

Holy crap that took forever to write!! Sorry for taking so long. Well now the story is going further, and the intrigue deepens some. Will the Wild Horses get caught in their little lie? Or will they get away scot free? And where are they heading next? Guess ya'll will have to wait for the next chapter, Chapter 11: Training at Balthas Training Site.

End Authors Note: Sorry again for taking so long. Between moving to Korea and the crazy operations tempo of the unit I was assigned there, I just didn't have the time, energy or effort to finish this until literally two days before I returned to the states! Anywho, for those who are wanting it, the MTO&E of the Wild Horses is finished finally! If you aren't that's cool, I'll be posting it prior to the chapter where they actually make planet fall on Mersedas. Take care and plz plz plz leave comments!

This is Captain Dave signing off!


	13. Update

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption Side-Story

Disclaimer: I do not own the things that I write here. Well at least not most of them. There are a couple of things that I do, but it was mostly thought up during times of massive tiredness. That which I don't own, I pay homage to those that do, and give them great respect and honor for the great works that they have done.

Author's Notes: Okay, I know that its been a while since I produced anything, but I blame the US military and all the wonderful work that they make me do. This is part 2 of the side story that I started before, and hopefully will close some loopholes that I've been meaning to close. Hope you all enjoy this little distraction, and hopefully once this is done, I can continue the main story line. Who knows maybe my muse will be gracious enough to grant me that ability!

Location

Headquarters

1st Battalion, 1st Dragoons Regiment

Fort McWilliams, Planet Manticore

Date: Wednesday 27th Day, 6th Month, 3045 TY

Time: 1530 Hours Local

As Kuno, Xian, Washu and Angus left their Commander's office they looked at each other, excitement shining in their eyes at their new mission. Washu looked at the others and motioned for them to follow her as she turned and started to head towards her office in the headquarters building. Once they reached her official office, she shut the door and motioned for everyone to take a seat.

"Okay first off we need some kind of intelligence from you Captain." She said to Kuno once they had all settled down comfortably.

"Of course Ma'am. Aside from my own Marauder there are another five 'mechs in the family hangar. There is also two attached warehouses to the hangar that have spare parts and ammunition for the 'mechs and the other vehicles that the family owns." He informed everyone.

"Five 'mechs eh? And what kind of other vehicles are we talking about Sir? Might as well take everything if we can." Angus said thoughtfully.

"Well I know of two helicopters and three other military grade vehicles. Two of them are 'mech transports and one is a cargo transport. I figure we could use them to carry some of the things in the hangar as well. Thankfully none of them are marked in anyway. My _father_ never felt the need to put the family crest on any of the other vehicles or 'mechs aside from the family limo." Kuno responded.

"Sounds like we'll need more than a single transport platoon then." Washu mused thoughtfully.

"Why don't we make it one with our heaviest wheeled mech transports and one with nothing but heavy cargo trucks? That should probably be enough to take just about anything that they do have with a little room to spare most likely." Angus suggested.

"That sounds like a really good idea there Sir McRory. Captain, any idea when would be the best time to raid your family home?" Xian asked politely.

"Well the whole clan is supposed to meet with the lawyer that is defending Kodachi in a couple of days. The house should be completely empty on that day. I suggest that we keep the house under surveillance until everyone leaves then we strike. I'm going to have to return to my old unit to keep up appearances, but once I know the date I'll pass it to all of you and join you out there as soon as I can." Kuno replied.

"Why do you need to be out there, I'm sure we can get away with everything that is there." Angus responded.

"Simple Sir McRory, there are vaults and other things on the premises that require a code. As far as my _father_ is concerned, he is the only one who knows that code. Lucky for us, I acquired that code not too long ago, and it seems like he hasn't changed it in quite a while." Kuno said with a smirk.

The four continued to discuss how they were going to pull off this heist before Kuno begged off and left so that he could maintain his ruse.

Location

Headquarters, 2nd Battalion, 1st BattleMech Regiment

Fort Victory, Planet Manticore

Date

Friday, 29th Day, 6th Month, 3045 TY

Time

0945 Hours Local

Tatewaki Kuno walked out of the conference room and slowly headed to his office. His battalion commander wasn't pleased that he was loosing him so soon, but understood the entire situation and said he would support the decision he made. He also promised not to reveal where Kuno had been transferred to, as long as he in turn promised to let him know how things went with his plans.

As he entered the S-1 office area Private Rawls looked up and smiled at him.

"Sir there was a phone call for you while you were in your meeting. I left the note on your desk. It was General Kuno, he said it was rather urgent that you get back in contact with him, though he wouldn't tell me what it was about." She said to him.

"Thank you Private Rawls. I know what he wanted to talk to me about. I'll be in my office returning that call." Kuno said politely as he headed to his office and gently shut the door.

He walked around and sat down at his desk, noticing that he did indeed have a message from the general, asking for him to call back as soon as possible. He sighed and reached out to punch the com code necessary to reach his father, knowing that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

"What took you so long to get back with me son?" His father said as soon as he picked up on the other end.

"Sorry Sir, I was in a meeting with my battalion commander about an important project that I am part of." He responded formally.

"Well regardless, I have a date for when you need to be at the defense lawyer's office for your interview with him." General Kuno said imperiously.

"Of course Sir, when is the date and time that I need to be there?" Kuno replied, somewhat coldly.

"On Monday the 1st. And make sure that you're there early Son, there is much that he and I will need to discuss with you, and the whole household will be there at the same time, I want to get this over with as quickly as possible." His father said quickly.

"I leave for the field on Sunday Sir. Its dealing with that important project I was telling you about. I'll see what I can do to get to the lawyer's office on that day as soon as I can, but I don't know when exactly I'll be there." Kuno replied.

"I don't care about any field operation or project Boy! This is more important than that. Your family has been insulted and your sister is at risk! You will be here to help in her defense, do I make myself clear?" General Kuno all but yelled at him.

"Crystal clear Sir. I'll be there as soon as I can on Monday. Is there anything else Sir?" He responded very formally and coldly.

"No there isn't, just make sure that you get here quickly on Monday. I don't care how or what you have to do, but you better be here." His father threatened.

"I will be Sir, until then." Kuno replied before he hung up on his father, not wanting to talk to the man anymore.

Kuno sat at his desk and tried to calm himself down, not wanting to take his current anger out on who he was about to call. Once he calmed down enough that he felt he could be civil he reached out and punched a new com code into his com panel and patiently waited.

"Wild Horse Battalion Headquarters, Staff Sergeant McRory speaking, how can I help your Sir or Ma'am?" Angus' voice said over the com.

"Sir McRory, this is Captain Kuno. I have a date for our little project." Kuno said quickly.

"Really Sir? All right, let's talk then. As soon as I've got the information I'll get the troops rolling out to the staging area and get the OP's(1) set up." Angus said, excitement coming out in his voice.

"The house should be empty on Monday the 1st. My father called me and informed me that I have to be there and that the whole household will be there as well. I'll join you and the rest of our men on Sunday and I'll just have to roll out from there to meet up with him and the defense lawyer after we've made a decent headway on stripping the place clean." Kuno told him.

"Excellent Sir. He sure moves fast your old man eh? I'll get the boys rolling out there and I'll let Lt. Liao know what's going on. I'm sure we can arrange for her people to take you to your meeting." Angus replied, humor evident in his voice.

"I think that would be an excellent idea. I'll see you on Sunday then Sir McRory." Kuno replied.

"See you Sunday Sir, don't forget to wear your infantry gear though." Angus reminded him.

"Of course, thank you for the reminder. Until Sunday." Kuno said.

"Until Sunday Sir." Angus replied before he hung up.

At Wild Horse Headquarters things started to move quickly once Angus was off the com. Within three hours the 3rd and 6th transport platoons of the headquarters company along with the Guardians and the Nightstalkers platoons from the Commander's Own had rolled out the gate heading out for a point within fifteen minutes of the Kuno estate to set up their AA(2) within a small valley easily hidden from the road. From there it was easy for the trained scouts of the Nightstalkers platoon to creep their vehicles and themselves into their OP's to watch the estate.

Kuno sighed as he looked about his office. Over the last couple of days he had been steadily packing all his personal affects up and getting ready to move, and it now looked as barren as when he first arrived here in shame. Now he was leaving not with shame but with his honor restored and in the good graces of his battalion commander. As he sat there thinking about how it all had come to this there was a quiet knock on his door. Kuno shook himself loose of his thoughts and looked up.

"It's open." He said loud enough to be heard through it.

The door opened to reveal Private Rawls as she stepped timidly into his office and shut the door behind her before she stepped up to in front of his desk and stood there at attention. Tatewaki watched her enter and was puzzled at her actions as she seemed to be slightly depressed.

"Can I help you Rawls?" He asked softly.

"Sir is it true?" She asked hesitantly.

"Is what true?" He asked, a little confused.

"The Battalion Commander just spoke to all the staff shops and told us all that you would be leaving and that today would probably be your last day working here with us." She said quietly.

"Yes it is true then. I've been pulled to work with a different battalion stationed on Fort McWilliams. I leave this afternoon to get settled in and I start work on Sunday." He told her.

"But why Sir? Was it something that the shop did to make you feel uncomfortable? Or was it something to do with what the General called to talk to you about?" She asked almost desperately, trying to understand.

Kuno looked shocked at her reaction to his leaving as his gazed softened. "No Rawls, it wasn't anything the shop has done, nor anything the Commander has done. This unit has been one of the best I've ever worked for and this shop has been very supportive of me in my rehabilitation. In a way it does have something to do with the General's call, but not in a good way." He told her.

"What could the General have to do with driving you away from m….us Sir?" She asked, her body quivering, whether from anger or sadness he couldn't tell.

"I can't officially tell you why Rawls, only that something he has done has forced me to seek out someone who can help me, and unfortunately their help comes with the cost of moving to their unit in order to have that help. It is better this way anyways, that way this wonderful unit won't suffer for the actions that I am about to be forced to commit." He explained softly to her.

"You aren't being forced to break the law by this person who is helping you, are you Sir? If they are I'll…." She seemed to get angry and she tightened up, before she blushed hard and ducked her head down.

Kuno blinked in shock and looked quizzically at her. "Rawls, may I ask you a rather personal question?" He asked slowly.

She nodded slowly still keeping her eyes averted from him as she stared at the floor in embarrassment.

"Do you have feelings for me beyond those of coworker?" He asked very slowly.

"Yes Sir…"She said just barely loud enough for him to hear her.

Kuno sighed and leaned back in his chair, not expecting this to happen, or to find out someone actually cared about him. He'd long expected to be lonely for a large portion of his life due to his past and his position, but he could sense the sincerity in her words, and her apparent feelings for him shocked him deeply. He gazed at her, making her nervous as she fidgeted before him, afraid she was about to be rejected or yelled at. After what seemed an eternity to them both, Tatewaki relaxed and smiled softly before waving her into the chair before his desk.

"Please sit." He said quietly.

She nervously sat in the chair but kept her eyes averted from him, not wanting to look up fearing to see his expression before he rejected her.

"Well this certainly complicates things now doesn't it?" He asked rhetorically. "How am I going to explain to the Commander that you'll be coming with me Mara?"

She looked up sharply at him in shock and surprise as he used her first name, hope shining in her eyes as she stared into his. "Sir?"

"Well if I let you stay here, my _father_ might very well find out about your feelings for me. If that happened then you'd in danger. My _father_ is likely to be angry at where I'm being stationed and with whom, not to mention what I am about to do. I wouldn't want someone of your beauty to be needlessly put at risk." He explained to her.

Private Mara Rawls blushed heavily and looked back down at the floor at his words. She looked back up as his other words registered. "Um Sir, why would you father be angry at you for changing stations much less what you may do there? And why would I be in danger if he did find out about me?" She asked confused.

"My _father_ is not a man to be trifled with, and I am about to do something that I know will get him angry at me, but it's a matter of honor that I do it anyway. As to why you would be in danger, he wouldn't be above taking his anger at me out on you, by either ruining your career or arranging an accident for you just to punish me." He said seriously.

She looked shocked that someone in the military would do something like what Tatewaki was suggesting, but quickly got over her shock as she looked thoughtful. "So what are we going to have to do then Sir?" She asked.

"Well let me place a call and see if the person who is helping me can help you, if they can, well how quickly do you think you can pack up everything that you own?" He asked seriously.

"Ummm, it might take a couple of days Sir, I have a lot of things in the barracks, plus there is all my equipment." She said hesitantly.

Tatewaki frowned thoughtfully and reached for his com again. He punched in a number that she didn't recognize and waited for it to go through.

"Hello?" Came a man's voice over the com unit, Tatewaki having put it on speaker rather than personal.

"Sir, this is Captain Kuno, I seem to have come upon a situation that I need to clear with you." He said to his new commander. Mara's eyes widened considerably as she realized just who her interest's new commander was.

"What's wrong now Kuno?" Ranma sighed over the com.

"Well it seems that one of the women who I've been working with recently has decided that today would be a perfect day to tell me that she has feelings for me. While I'm flattered that she is interested in me and all, with everything that is going on with our unit and my reason for reassignment to you, this does present a bit of a slight problem for me." Kuno explained.

"Geez a bit of slight problem? I'd hate to hear what you consider a big problem Kuno! Okay, I take it she's in your current unit, does she live off post, or in the BOQ(3)?" Ranma asked.

"Ummmm, neither actually Sir. She's a soldier here in the battalion S-1 shop, and lives in the BEQ on base here." Kuno said softly, hoping Ranma didn't blow up on him.

"Well shit, that just makes things better Kuno! Well our battalion has already set a precedence for enlisted/officer couples so I see no problem with it. How much of a danger do you think she's bound to be in once all this goes down?" He asked.

Kuno sighed in relief and looked thoughtful. "Quite a bit if my _father_ ever finds out, and I doubt that we'd be able to keep it quiet enough for him to not find out." He told Ranma.

"All right, I'll talk with Washu and have one of our LCTs swing by her barracks with a crew to pack up and bring her here to our barracks. Looks like our S-1 will be filled up then, that's the final slot we were waiting on HQs for fill for us. I'll com the General and let him know that we don't have to worry about that slot now." Ranma said cheerfully.

"Thank you Sir, from both of us. I'll send Major Hakubi the particulars so that we can make this happen." Kuno said with a smile.

"No problem Kuno, treat her right and enjoy yourselves tonight I say, because starting Monday we'll be very busy, after your little business trip on Monday we're going to be in the field working for the month. So your team will be going straight from there to the field op, I'll personally make sure that your girlfriend makes it out here to link up with you." Ranma told him before he signed off.

Tatewaki and Mara looked at each other and blushed heavily at Ranma's teasing words.

"So, ummm, would you like to go out for dinner Mara?" Kuno asked hesitantly.

"Yes I would Sir." She answered meekly with a blush.

Kuno stood up and walked around the desk and helped her to stand. "Please call me Tatewaki when we're in private or out of uniform my dear." He told her softly.

Location

Outside the Kuno Family Estate, Planet Manticore

Date

Monday, 1st Day, 7th Month, 3045 TY

Time

0630 Local

As the scouts the made up the Nightstalkers platoon watched over the Kuno estate they saw as several vehicles left, heading away from the estate. One of them checked his vehicle sensors', cycling through its various modes, only to smirk as they confirmed that almost everyone had left, only one person was still there. Unfortunately they were in their target area, so they would have to be dealt with.

"Guardian 4, this is Nightstalkers 2, over" He said.

"Nightstalkers 2, this is Guardian 4, go ahead over." Came Angus' reply.

"The chicken has flown the coop, over." He reported with a grin.

"This is Guardian 4, that's a good copy, anyone still there?" Angus asked.

"Roger, we have one body in the hangar, other than that the place is as empty as a ghost town." He answered.

"Roger, continue to observe, I'll give the Amazons a call and let them know what their target area looks like." Angus responded.

"Acknowledged, this is Nightstalker 2 out." The man said before he and his people turned back to their duty of keeping a sharp eye on the soon to be completely empty Kuno Estate.

Thirty minutes later the Nightstalker 2 looked up as a shadow passed overhead as the silent helicopters of the Amazon platoon flew past at tree top level, escorted by two attack helicopters that were just as silent. They quickly went into a hover not far from the Estate's hangar and disgorged the whole platoon of infantry who quickly entered the building. The gunner watched through his sights as the Amazons moved with professional skill and quickly and quietly took down the one guard that had been left behind.

"Guardian Four this is Amazon One, over." The radio said in a soft lilting voice.

"Amazon One this is Guardian Four." Angus responded quickly.

"Target is secure, one tango down softly, should be sleeping for a while. And there is a lot here. I'll start my people in stripping things to be put into our birds or the trucks while you get everyone moving this way." Xian ordered.

"This is Guardian Four, acknowledged, we'll be there in fifteen mikes." Angus told her.

"This is Amazon One, out."

Angus turned to look at Tatewaki as they sat in the back of his Maxim. "So sir, ready to get this done?" He asked.

"Yes let's see this finished. I'll personally lead your most trusted squad along with your best hacker to where the secret things are located." Kuno informed him.

"All right sir, that means you'll be linking up with Staff Sergeant Rally Vincent. Her team is the best I've got and she's got a hacker that is pretty skilled with her." Angus said with an evil grin that matched Tatewaki's perfectly.

As the raiding team approached the Estate, they saw the women who made up the Amazon platoon moving equipment into one of their helicopters. As the trucks and hovercraft came to a stop the other members of the team moved in and started to move equipment, parts and ammo out of the hangar with a quickness that few outside the military could expect anyone to be able to move things of this nature.

Tatewaki walked calmly out of the Maxim transport that he rode in and walked over to link up with a female staff sergeant shorter than him.

"Sergeant Vincent?" He asked politely, as nobody in the team wore any identifying marks of any kind.

"Yes Sir. I was told that we're to go with you to acquire some of the more sensitive things?" She answered as she gazed up at him.

"Yes, we're going into the main estate where all the most sensitive and important documents and items are kept. Once we've cleaned the place out, I want you and your people to make it look like the Sons of Manticore raided this place, can you do that?" He asked her.

She looked at her people and they all grinned at each other evilly before she glanced back up at him. "I think we can manage something like that sir."

"Excellent, then please follow me." Tatewaki said as he turned around and started to lead them to the main Estate.

As they entered the main estate, a couple of the younger soldiers in the squad whistled at seeing so much wealth and opulence displayed about the entry area. Kuno ignored it all, being used to such things and looked back at the NCO in charge of the squad.

"Sergeant Vincent, I need you, your hacker and your most trusted member of the squad to come with me, the rest can raid the entire house for all I care. In fact they have free reign to do whatever they wish inside." Kuno said to her.

"No problem then Sir." She said with a grin before she turned back to her squad. "All right, May, Becky, you're with me, the rest of you, have fun. If you take anything make sure you put it in a pile near the front door so that we can get it all out and into the vehicles for transport back home." She ordered.

As the majority of the squad moved about the house with an almost sadistic gleeful look in their eyes, Kuno and the rest headed deep into the mansion. As he led the three others through a twisting series of passages they eventually came to a set of expensive looking double doors. As they approached the doors, the women looked about at the opulence with awe in their expressions while Kuno just continued on, being used to such displays of wealth. When they reached the doors, Kuno gently pushed them open and led them into a spacious and well appointed office.

"There are three safes in here Staff Sergeant. Two of them your hacker can open without any problems, but the third one is up to me." He informed them.

Becky looked sideways at him and scowled. "Do you think its beyond my skills Sir?" She asked.

Kuno glanced over to her and shook his head. "No I'm sure you could crack that safe, but as you're trying to do it, you'll set off a charge within the safe that will destroy everything inside. I want what is inside that safe as it'll benefit our unit beyond the mere supplies and vehicles that we're taking already." Kuno answered her.

Staff Sergeant Vincent looked at her two companions and nodded. "All right Becky, get to work on the other two safes, May start setting things up so that we can blow the safes after we take everything out of them. I want it to look like we didn't know what we were doing." She told them.

As the two junior women nodded and started getting to work with the plan, Kuno and Staff Sergeant Vincent moved to the last safe. As Kuno went through the motions of punching in the code and saying the appropriate passwords, they could hear the sounds of the house being slowly torn apart as well as the first safe giving in to Becky's skills. As Tatewaki slowly opened the safe, SSG Vincent whistled in appreciation at what was kept inside. There were numerous data disks as well as several large bags. At the other side of the room, Becky and May both made exclamations of surprise and pleasure as they discovered even more money lying in the other two safes.

"All right ladies, take everything in all the safes and start taking it back to your vehicle. This money is going to come in very handy in getting our space borne assets done even faster." Kuno ordered as he started to put the data disks into an assault pack that SSG Vincent had on her.

"How much do you figure is in here Sir?" Sergeant Hopkins asked as they started to pull out bag after bag of money.

"I'd have to guess at least three or four billion, if I know my father any." Was his answer as he finished loading up the bag and handed it to SSG Vincent. "Now Sergeant Vincent, I need you to make sure that this gets to Major Liao when we return to base. These data disks hold some very critical information."

"Of course Sir, can I ask what is on the disks?" She responded.

"Everything on those disks contains ways for us to defeat our local adversaries as well as slowly drain the coffers of said people as well." He answered as he started to leave. "Sergeant Hopkins, I do hope those charges are ready for use."

"Yes Sir! Ready and primed, all I gotta do is hit the button, then BOOM! Bye bye safes." She said with a slightly evil grin.

"Excellent, lets get out of here and help our friends continue picking this place clean." He said as they all left.

As they left the mansion they saw that most of the large cargo trucks were almost completely filled and that the last of the mechs were being loaded. They stared at how quickly the whole team had moved before shaking themselves out of their stupor and started to move towards the vehicles. Just as they neared the vehicles, Kuno's private com line chimed in his ear in the tone that was far too familiar in an unpleasant way for him.

TBC

End author's notes: So sorry for the delay on this chapter! I've been meaning to write more and more for this story but things have just been too hectic for me. First my muse abandoned me, then I PCS'd from Leavenworth to Germany! Then they deployed me to Afghanistan! Well I hope that I'm going to be able to get more writing done soon. This tour has been more hectic than the last two! Until next chapter!

This is CptDave signing off!


	14. Star Kingdom's Order

This is for those who might be curious as to how the Star Kingdom sets up its military.

Star Kingdom of Manticore Order Of Battle

Divisions

Battle Mech

3 Battle Mech Regiments, 1Cavalry Squadron, 1 VTOL Regiment, 1 FA Battalion, 1 ADA Battalion

Armored

3 Vehicle Regiments, 1 Cavalry Squadron, 1 VTOL Regiment, 1 FA Battalion, 1 ADA Battalion

Infantry

3 Infantry Regiments, 1 Cavalry Squadron, 1 VTOL Regiment, 1 FA Battalion, 1 ADA Battalion

Assault

1 Battle Mech Regiment, 1 Tank Regiment, 1 Infantry Regiment, 1 Cavalry Regiment, 1 VTOL Regiment, 1 FA Battalion, 1 ADA Battalion

Cavalry

4 Cavalry Regiments, 1 VTOL Regiment, 1 ADA Battalion, 1 FA Battalion

Battle Mechs

Platoon: 6 Battle Mechs

Company: 4 Platoons + 1 Command Platoon (30 Mechs)

BattleMech HHC: 1 Mech Command Platoon, 4 Transport Platoons, 2 Hospital Platoons, 3 Mechanic Platoons, 2 Medium Vehicle Platoons, 1 VTOL Platoon

Battalion: 4 Mech Companies, 1 Headquarters/Headquarters Company

Regiment: 3 Mech Battalions, 1 Vehicle Battalion, 1 Infantry Battalion, 1 Aerospace Wing, 1 HHC

Vehicles

Light Platoon: 10 Light Vehicles (5 tons – 35 tons)

Medium Platoon: 8 Medium Vehicles (40 tons – 55 tons)

Heavy Platoon: 6 Heavy Vehicles (60 tons – 100 tons)

Assault Platoon: 4 Assault Vehicles (101+ tons)

Company: 4 Platoons + 1 Command Platoon (20 – 50 Vehicles)

Vehicle HHC: 1 Vehicle Command Platoon, 5 Transport Platoons, 2 Hospital Platoons, 5 Mechanic Platoons, 3 Medium Vehicle Platoons, 1 VTOL Platoon

Battalion: 4 Vehicle Companies, 1 HHC, 1 Light Vehicle Platoon

Regiment: 3 Vehicle Battalions, 1 Aerospace Wing, 1 Infantry Battalion, 1 Mech Battalion, HHC, 1 Light Vehicle Company

Aerospace

Flight: 3 Aerospace Fighters, + Ground Crew

Ground Crew Platoon: 3 Fuel Trucks, 2 Maintenance Vehicles, 6 Transport Vehicles

Squadron: 3 Flights, 1 Command Flight, 1 Ground Crew Platoon

Wing: 6 Squadrons, 1 Command Flight, 1 Ground Crew Platoon

Air Group: 2-12 Wings

VTOL

Platoon: 8 Helicopters

Company: 4 Platoons, 1 Command Platoon, 2 Ground Crew Platoons

Battalion: 4 VTOL Companies, 1 Vehicle Company, 1 Infantry Company, 2 Mech Platoons, 1 HHC (same as Vehicle HHC)

Regiment: 4 VTOL Battalions, 1 HHC

Cavalry

Headquarters/Headquarters Troop: Command Platoon (1 Vehicle, 2 Mechs, 1 VTOL), 6 Transport Platoons, 5 Hospital Platoons, 8 Mechanic Platoons, 1 Medium Vehicle Platoon, 1 Mech Platoon, 1 VTOL Platoon

Squadron: 2 Mech Companies, 2 Vehicle Companies, 2 Infantry Companies (Mechanized), 1 Aerospace Squadron, 1 VTOL Company, 1 HHT

Regiment: 4 Squadrons, 1 HHT, 1 Field Artillery Company

Field Artillery/Air Defense Artillery

FA/ADA Platoon: 6 vehicles of Heavy or Assault class; ADA can have hovercraft vehicles of 50 tons

Company: 5 Platoons, 1 Command Platoon, 1 Transport Platoon

Battalion: 5 Companies, 1 HHC (Vehicle HHC), 1 Light Vehicle Platoon (Recon), 1 Infantry Platoon (Mechanized), 1 Transport Company

Misc Forces

Transport Platoon: 10 Transport Vehicles

Hospital Platoon: 4 MASH units, 8 Ambulance units

Mechanic Platoon: 6 Mobile Field Bases, 4 Transport Vehicles

Support Platoon: 3 Coolant Trucks, 3 Fuel Trucks, 3 Ammo Trucks

Engineer Vehicle Platoon: 6 Engineering vehicles, 2 Heavy transport vehicles

Engineer Mech Platoon: 6 Engineering Mechs

Transport Company: 6 Transport Platoons, 3 Mechanic Platoons, 3 Light or Medium Vehicle Platoons

Medical Company: 6 Hospital Platoons, 2 Mechanic Platoons, 2 Light Vehicle Platoons, 2 VTOL Platoons, 1 Ground Crew Platoon

Support Company: 6 Mechanic Platoons, 2 Lt Vehicle Platoons, 3 Transport Platoons, 3 Support Platoons

Combined Arms Company, Small: 1 BattleMech Platoon, 1 Medium Vehicle Platoon, 1 Infantry Platoon, 1 VTOL Platoon, 1 Aerospace Fighter Flight

Engineer Company: 2 Engineer Mech Platoons, 2 Engineer Vehicle Platoons, 1 Mechanic Platoon, 1 Transport Platoon

Infantry

Squad: 7 Men

Platoon: 6 Squads (42 Men)

HQ Platoon: 2 Squads (14 Men)

Company: 4 Platoons, 1 HQ Platoon (182 Men)

HHC: 1 HQ Platoon, 1 Transport Platoon, 2 Hospital Platoons, 1 Mechanic Platoon (14 Men)

Battalion: 4 Companies, 1 HHC, 1 Light Vehicle Platoon or VTOL Platoon (If Airborne) (742 Men)

Regiment: 4 Battalions, 1 HHC, 1 Light Vehicle Company or VTOL Company (if Airborne) (2,982 Men)

Dragoon

Company: Command Platoon (2 aslt mechs, 2 aslt vehicles), 1 Light Mech Platoon, 1 Medium Mech Platoon, 1 Heavy Mech Platoon, 1 Assault Mech Platoon, 1 Mechanized Infantry Platoon, 1 Airborne Infantry Platoon, 1 Lt. Vehicle Platoon, 1 Med. Vehicle Platoon, 1 Hvy Vehicle Platoon, 1 Aslt Vehicle Platoon, 1 Artillery Platoon, 1 VTOL Platoon, 1 Aerospace Flight, 2 Mechanic Platoon, 1 Hospital Platoon, 2 Transport Platoons, 2 Support Platoons, 1 Engineer Vehicle Platoon, 1 Engineer Mech Platoon, 2 Ground Crew Platoons, 1 Air Defense Artillery Platoon

HHC: Command Platoon (2 Aslt Mechs, 2 Aslt Vehicles, 2 VTOLs), 8 Transport Platoons, 4 Support Platoons, 6 Mechanic Platoons, 3 Ground Crew Platoons, 6 Hospital Platoons, 2 Lt Vehicle Platoons, 1 Lt Mech Platoon, 1 Hvy Mech Platoon, 2 VTOL Platoons, 4 ADA Platoons

Battalion: 4 Dragoon companies, 1 Dragoon HHC

Naval

Frigates (FF): 1,000 – 60,000 tons

Destroyer (DD): 65,000 - 99,000 tons

Light Cruiser (CL): 100,000 - 150,000 tons

Heavy Cruiser (CA): 160,000 – 350,000 tons

Battle Cruiser (BC): 500,000 – 1,200,000 tons

Battleship (BB): 1,500,000 – 4,000,000 tons

Dreadnought (DN): 4,000,000 – 6,000,000 tons

SuperDreadnought (SD): 6,000,000+ tons

Naval Force Sizes

Fleet

2-5 Task Forces

Task Force

2-5 Squadrons or subgroups

Squadrons

Battle Squadron: 6 Battleships

Battle Cruiser Squadron: 6 Battle Cruisers

Cruiser Squadron: 6 Heavy Cruiser or 8 Light Cruisers

Destroyer Flotilla: 1 Light Cruiser, 9 Jump Capable Destroyers

Carrier Squadron: 5-6 Jump Capable Carriers

Escort Squadron: 1 Battleship, 1 Battle Cruiser, 1 Heavy Cruiser, 1 Light Cruiser, 1 Jump Capable Destroyer

Transport Squadron: 6 Jump Capable Transport Ships


	15. Wild Horse's Equipment List

This is the list of equipment, and some people, for the 1st Battalion, 1st Dragoons Regiment for everyone's knowledge of what they'll have when they hit Mersedas.

As of 29th Day, 10th Month, 3048 TY

Prior to the Landing on Mersedas

1st Battalion, 1st Dragoons Regiment

Wild Horses

Naval Assets

HMS Nightstalker, Nightstalker class Battle Cruiser

HHC Wild Horses, Sneak Thief class Dropship

Alpha Wild Horses, Sneak Thief class Dropship

Bravo Wild Horses, Sneak Thief class Dropship

Charlie Wild Horses, Sneak Thief class Dropship

Delta Wild Horses, Sneak Thief class Dropship

Transport One, Sneak Thief class Dropship

Commander's Own Wild Horses, Sneak Thief class Dropship

3 F-6 Tatsu, 3 F-94 Stingray, 3 F-7 Hellcat, 2 F-13 Cheetah, 1 F-4 Rapier (Commander Jackie Harmon)

HHC (Hounds of War)

Command Platoon: ABM-1A1 Mad Cat Mk II (Major Ryoga Habiki, XO), ABM-2 Fafnir (Captain Brandon Bransford, Company CO), M-3 McArthur Command Tank (Major Ayeka Juria; S-3, Major Mu Tsu Liao; S-2), M-2 Longstop Fire Support Tank (1SG William Rose), AH-5 Pinto Attack VTOL, AH-3 Hawk Moth Gunship (CW5 Jilly St. Amand)

1st Transport Platoon: 10 M-1068 LCTs

2nd Transport Platoon: 10 M-1069 MCTs

3rd Transport Platoon: 10 M-1065 HCTs

4th Transport Platoon: 10 M-945 HETs

5th Transport Platoon: 10 M-946 LMETs

6th Transport Platoon: 10 M-947 HMETs

7th Transport Platoon: 3 M-1068 LCTs, 3 M-1069 MCTs, 3 M-1065 HCTs,

1 M-1000 SHCT

8th Transport Platoon: 3 M-945 HETs, 3 M-946 LMETs, 3 M-947 HMETs,

1 M-900 SHET

1st Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

2nd Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

3rd Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

4th Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

1st Maintenance Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 4 M-1000 SHCTs (Major Washu Hakubi)

2nd Maintenance Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 4 M-1065 HCTs

3rd Maintenance Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 4 M-1069 MCTs

4th Maintenance Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 2 M-1000 SHCTs, 2 M-900 SHETs

5th Maintenance Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 2 M-1065 HCTs, 2 M-947 HMETs

6th Maintenance Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 2 M-1069 MCTs, 2 M-946 LMETs

1st Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 2 M-1068 LCT, 1 M-1069 MCT, 1 M-1065 HCT

2nd Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 2 M-1068 LCT, 1 M-1069 MCT, 1 M-1065 HCT

3rd Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 2 M-1068 LCT, 1 M-1069 MCT, 1 M-1065 HCT

1st Medical Platoon: 4 M-978 MASH Tracks, 8 M-127 HFA

2nd Medical Platoon: 4 M-978 MASH Tracks, 8 M-113 TFA

3rd Medical Platoon: 4 M-978 MASH Tracks, 8 M-665 WFA

4th Medical Platoon: 4 M-978 MASH Tracks, 8 UH-60H Karnov (Major Ono Tofu)

5th Medical Platoon: 4 M-978 MASH Tracks, 4 M-127 HFA, 4 UH-60H Karnov (Major Kasumi Tofu)

6th Medical Platoon: 4 M-978 MASH Tracks, 4 M-113 TFA, 4 M-665 WFA

Stalkers (LVP): 1 M-14 Chevalier Light Tank , 1 M-26 Pegasus Scout Hover tank, 3 M-5 Centipede Scout Cars , 3 M-15 Beagle Scout Tank, 2 M-30 Hephaestus Scout Tanks

Vengeance (LVP): 4 M-23 Hunter Light Support Tanks, 4 M-40 Striker Light Tank, 2 M-36 Saracen Light Hover Tanks

Speed Demons (LMP): LBM-1 Red Shift, LBM-2 Anubis, LBM-3 Osiris, LBM-4 Gurkha, LBM-5 Owens, LBM-6 Talon

Hammerheads (HMP): HBM-1 Helios, HBM-2 Jagermech III, HBM-3 Guillotine, HBM-4 Maelstrom, HBM-5 Rifleman, HBM-6 Marauder

Eagles (HP): 4 AH-16 Mantis Light Attack Helicopters, 2 OH-3 Sprint Scout Helicopters, 2 OH-8 Ferret Scout Helicopters

Avenging Falcons (HP): 2 AH-20 Yellow Jacket Gunships, 2 AH-7 Warrior Attack Helicopters, 2 AH-7A Warrior Attack Helicopters, 2 AH-13 Cavalry Attack Helicopters

Fire Spitters (ADAP): 1 M-4 Artemis Air Defense Tank, 3 M-20 Partisan Air Defense Tanks, 2 M-20A1 Partisan Air Defense Tanks

Steel Death (ADAP): 1 M-4 Artemis Air Defense Tank, 2 M-20 Partisan ADT, 2 M-20A1 Partisan ADT, 1 M-20A2 Partisan ADT

Air Killers (ADAP): 1 M-4 Artemis ADT, 2 M-20A1 Partisan ADT, 2 M-20A2 Partisan ADT, 1 M-39 Longshot ADT

Speed Freaks (ADAP): 1 M-16A1 Fast Tracker ADHT, 5 M-16 Fast Tracker ADHT

Alpha Company (Annihilators)

Command Platoon: ABM-3A1 Hauptmann (Captain Makoto Saotome, Company CO), ABM-4 Blood Kite (First Sergeant Haruka Ten'Oh), M-3 McArthur Command Tank, M-4 Artemis Air Defense Tank

Little Giants (LMP): LBM-7 Pack Hunter, LBM-8 Cougar, LBM-8A1 Cougar, LBM-9 Stinger LAM, LBM-10 Wasp LAM, LBM-11 Spector

Light Killers (MMP): 2 MBM-1 Phoenix Hawk LAMs, MBM-2 Uziel, MBM-3 Cobra,

MBM-4 Enforcer III, MBM-5 Bushwacker

Death Rain (HMP): HBM-7 Lao Hu, HBM-8 Arcas, HBM-9 Bowman, HBM-2 Jagermech III, HBM-10 Ha Otoko, HBM-11 Nova Cat

Steel Rain (AMP): ABM-5 Scylla, ABM-6 Viking, ABM-7 Salamander, ABM-8 Naga, ABM-9 Mauler, ABM-10 Longbow

Bastards (MIP): 6 M-41 Maxim Heavy Transports, 42 Infantry

Helljumpers (AIP): 6 UH-42 Anhur Helicopters, 42 Infantry

Lt. Vehicle Plt: 2 M-23 Mithras Light Tanks, 2 M-19 Zorya Light Tanks, 2 M-75 Galleon Light Tanks, 2 M-23 Hunter Light Tanks, 2 M-80 Scorpion Light Tanks

Med. Vehicle Plt: 2 M-42 Enyo Strike Tanks, 2 M-10 Myrmidon Tanks, 2 M-9 Ares Medium Tanks, 2 M-28 Vedette Medium Tank

Heavy Vehicle Plt: M-47 Ajax Heavy Tank, M-106 Heavy LRM Carrier, M-69 Demolisher II Heavy Tank, M-50 Mars Assault Tank, M-52 Alacorn Heavy Tank, M-65 Challenger X Main Battle Tank

Assault Vehicle Plt.: 1 M-1A1 Abrahms MBT, 3 M-1 Abrahms MBT

Artillery Platoon: 3 M-2 Longstop Fire Support Tanks, 3 M-6 Huitzilopochtli Artillery Tank

VTOL Platoon: 2 OH-58 Kiowa Scout Helicopters, 2 OH-3 Sprint Scout Helicopters, 2 AH-7A Warrior Attack Helicopters, 2 AH-13 Cavalry Attack Helicopters

Aerospace Flight: 3 F-1 Tyre Fighters

1st Mechanic Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 1 M-1000 SHCT, 1 M-900 SHET, 1 M-1065 HCT, 1 M-947 HMET

2nd Mechanic Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 1 M-945 HET, 1 M-1069 MCT, 1 M-946 LMET, 1 M-1068 LCT

Hospital Platoon: 4 M-978 MASH Tracks, 2 M-113 TFA, 2 UH-60H Karnovs, 2 M-665 WFA, 2 M-127 HFA

1st Transport Platoon: 1 M-1000 SHCT, 3 M-1065 HCT, 3 M-1069 MCT, 3 M-1068 LCT

2nd Transport Platoon: 1 M-900 SHET, 3 M-947 HMET, 3 M-945 HET, 3 M-946 LMET

1st Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

2nd Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

Vehicle Engineer Platoon: 6 M-7 Constructer Engineer Tracks, 2 M-1000 SHCT

Mech Engineer Platoon: 6 ABM-98 Builders

1st Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 2 M-1065 HCT, 2 M-947 HMET

2nd Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 2 M-1065 HCT, 2 M-947 HMET

ADA Platoon: 1 M-4 Artemis ADT, 1 M-39 Longshot ADT, 1 M-20A2 Partisan ADT, 2 M-20 Partisan ADT, 1 M-20A1 Partisan ADT

Bravo Company (Black Knights)

Command Platoon: ABM-17A1 Nightstar (Captain Tenchi Misaki, Company CO), ABM-1 Mad Cat MkII (1SG Sam Nickleson, Company 1SG), M-3 McArthur Command Tank, M-1A1 Abrahms MBT

1st LMP: LBM-11 Spector, LBM-5 Owens, LBM-2 Anubis, LBM-8A1 Cougar, LBM-15 Badger, LBM-6 Talon

1st MMP: MBM-11 Shadowhawk, MBM-5 Bushwacker, MBM-9 Wyvern, MBM-7 Blackjack, MBM-6 Sentinel, MBM-10 Dervish

1st HMP: HBM-14 Archer, HBM-2 Jagermech III, HBM-11 Nova Cat, HBM-7 Lao Hu, HBM-6 Marauder, HBM-12 Dragon Fire

1st AMP: ABM-16 Highlander, ABM-15 Victor, ABM-13 Annihilator, ABM-9 Mauler, ABM-14 Awesome, ABM-11 Vanquisher

1st MIP: 6 M-41 Maxim Heavy Transports, 42 Infantry

1st AIP: 6 UH-42 Anhur Helicopters, 42 Infantry

1st LVP: 2 M-11 Swift Wind Scout Cars, 2 M-15 Beagle Scout Tanks, 2 M-5 Centipede Scout Cars, 2 M-75 Galleon Light Tanks, 2 M-14 Chevalier Light Tanks

1st MVP: 2 M-12 Hetzer Assault Guns, 2 M-29 Regulator Medium Tanks, 2 M-10 Myrmidon Medium Tanks, 2 M-42 Enyo Strike Tanks

1st HVP: 2 M-33 Patton Heavy Tanks, 2 M-34 Rommel Heavy Tanks, 2 M-35 Von Luckner Heavy Tanks

1st AVP: 1 M-1A1 Abrahms Main Battle Tank, 3 M-1 Abrahms Main Battle Tanks

1st Artillery Platoon: 1 M-2 Longstop Fire Support Tank, 5 M-43 Paladin Artillery Tanks

1st Helicopter Platoon: 4 OH-58 Kiowa Scout Helicopters, 4 AH-7A Warrior Attack Helicopters

1st Aerospace Fighter Flight: 3 F-94 Stingrays

1st Mechanic Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 2 M-947 HMETs, 2 M-1065 HCTs

2nd Mechanic Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 2 M-947 HMETs, 2 M-1065 HCTs

1st Hospital Platoon: 4 M-978 MASH Track, 4 UH-60H Karnovs, 2 M-665 WFAs, 1 M-113 TFA, 1 M-127 HFA

1st Transport Platoon: 3 M-947 HMETs, 3 M-945 HETs, 4 M-946 LMETs

2nd Transport Platoon: 3 M-1065 HCTs, 3 M-1069 MCTs, 4 M-1068 LCTs

1st Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

2nd Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

1st Engineer Platoon: 6 M-7 Constructer Engineering Tracks, 2 M-1065 HCTs

2nd Engineer Platoon: 6 ABM-98 Builders

1st Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 4 M-1069 MCTs

2nd Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 2 M-1069 MCTs, 2 M-1068 LCTs

1st ADAP: 1 M-16A1 Fast Tracker ADHT, 5 M-16 Fast Tracker ADHT

Charlie Company (Crimson Stalkers)

Command Platoon: ABM-20A1 Iron Cheetah (Captain Ryoko Hakubi, Company CO), ABM-9 Mauler, M-3 McArthur Command Tank (1SG Wilson Rose, Company 1SG), M-1A1 Abrahms MBT

LMP: 3 LBM-9 Stinger LAMs, 3 LBM-10 Wasp LAMs

MMP: MBM-8 Vindicator, MBM-9 Wyvern, MBM-4 Enforcer III, MBM-2 Uziel, MBM-10 Dervish, MBM-11 Shadowhawk

HMP: HBM-1 Helios, 2 HBM-8 Arcas, HBM-14 Archer, HBM-3 Guillotine, HBM-5 Rifleman

AMP: ABM-8 Naga, ABM-10 Longbow, ABM-7 Salamander, ABM-1 Mad Cat MkII, ABM-6 Viking, ABM-5 Scylla

MIP: 6 M-41 Maxim Heavy Transports, 42 infantry

AIP: 6 UH-42 Anhur Helicopters, 42 infantry

LVP: 3 M-26 Pegasus Scout Hovertanks, 3 M-30 Hephaestus Scout Tanks, 3 M-15 Beagle Scout Tanks, M-36 Saracen Medium Hover Tank

MVP: 8 M-29 Regulator Medium Tanks

HVP: 2 M-52 Alacorn Heavy Tanks, 2 M-106 Heavy LRM Carriers, 2 M-47 Ajax Heavy Tanks

AVP: 4 M-1 Abrahms Main Battle Tanks

AP: 1 M-2 Longstop Fire Support Tank, 5 M-43 Paladin Artillery Tanks

Helicopter Platoon: 2 OH-58 Kiowa Scout Helicopters, 1 OH-8 Ferret Light Scout Helicopter, 1 OH-3 Sprint Scout Helicopter, 1 AH-20 Yellow Jacket Gunship, 1 AH-13 Cavalry Attack Helicopter, 1 AH-3 Hawk Moth Gunship, 1 AH-16 Mantis Light Attack Helicopter

Aerospace Fighter Flight: 3 F-3 Chippewa Fighter/Bombers

1st Mechanic Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 2 M-947 HMETs, 2 M-1065 HCTs

2nd Mechanic Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 2 M-947 HMETs, 2 M-1065 HCTs

Hospital Platoon: 4 M-978 MASH Tracks, 6 M-127 HFAs, 2 UH-60H Karnovs

1st Transport Platoon: 6 M-1065 HCTs, 2 M-1069 MCTs, 2 M-1068 LCTs

2nd Transport Platoon: 6 M-947 HMETs, 2 M-945 HETs, 2 M-946 LMETs

1st Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

2nd Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

1st Engineer Platoon: 6 M-7 Constructer Engineering Tracks, 2 M-1065 HCTs

2nd Engineer Platoon: 6 ABM-98 Builders

1st Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 4 M-1069 MCTs

2nd Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 2 M-1069 MCTs, 2 M-1068 LCTs

ADAP: 6 M-4 Artemis Air Defense Tanks

Delta Company (Death's Angels)

Command Platoon: ABM-18 Atlas (1SG Arthur Smith, Company 1SG), ABM-27 Berserker, M-3 McArthur Command Tank, M-1A1 Abrahms MBT (Captain Ami Mizuno, Company CO)

LMP: 3 LBM-6 Talon, 3 LBM-5 Owens

MMP: MBM-12 Falcon Hawk, MBM-26A1 Komodo, MBM-4 Enforcer III, MBM-10 Dervish, MBM-24 Griffin, MBM-11 Shadowhawk

HMP: 2 HBM-6 Marauder, HBM-4 Maelstrom, HBM-12 Dragon Fire, HBM-3 Guillotine, HBM-5A2 Rifleman

AMP: ABM-11 Vanquisher, ABM-10 Longbow, ABM-19 Marauder II, ABM-2 Fafnir, ABM-27 Berserker, ABM-5 Scylla

MIP: 6 M-48 Merkava IFVs, 42 infantry

AIP: 6 UH-42 Anhur Helicopters, 42 infantry

LVP: 3 M-26 Pegasus Scout Hovertanks, 3 M-30 Hephaestus Scout Tanks, 3 M-27 Saladin Assault Hover Tanks, M-36 Saracen Medium Hover Tank

MVP: 8 M-29A1 Regulator Medium Tanks

HVP: 2 M-69 Demolisher II Heavy Tanks, 1 M-38 Behemoth Heavy Tank, 2 M-47 Ajax Heavy Tanks, 1 M-65 Challenger X Main Battle Tank

AVP: 4 M-1 Abrahms Main Battle Tanks

AP: 1 M-2 Longstop Fire Support Tank, 5 M-43 Paladin Artillery Tanks

Helicopter Platoon: 2 OH-58 Kiowa Scout Helicopters, 1 OH-8 Ferret Light Scout Helicopter, 1 OH-3 Sprint Scout Helicopter, 1 AH-20 Yellow Jacket Gunship, 1 AH-13 Cavalry Attack Helicopter, 1 AH-3 Hawk Moth Gunship, 1 AH-16 Mantis Light Attack Helicopter

Aerospace Fighter Flight: 3 F/A-30 Huscarl Fighter/Bombers

1st Mechanic Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 2 M-947 HMETs, 2 M-1065 HCTs

2nd Mechanic Platoon: 6 M-88 Field Repair Tracks, 2 M-947 HMETs, 2 M-1065 HCTs

Hospital Platoon: 4 M-978 MASH Tracks, 6 M-127 HFAs, 2 UH-60H Karnovs

1st Transport Platoon: 6 M-1065 HCTs, 2 M-1069 MCTs, 2 M-1068 LCTs

2nd Transport Platoon: 6 M-947 HMETs, 2 M-945 HETs, 2 M-946 LMETs

1st Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

2nd Support Platoon: 3 M-259 Coolant Trucks, 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 3 M-397 Ammo Trucks

1st Engineer Platoon: 6 M-7 Constructer Engineering Tracks, 2 M-1065 HCTs

2nd Engineer Platoon: 6 ABM-98 Builders

1st Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 4 M-1069 MCTs

2nd Ground Crew Platoon: 3 M-143 Fuel Trucks, 2 M-66 Field Repair Trucks, 2 M-397 Ammo Trucks, 2 M-1069 MCTs, 2 M-1068 LCTs

ADAP: 6 M-4 Artemis Air Defense Tanks

Commander's Own (Crazy Horses)

Command Platoon: ABM-11A1 Vanquisher (Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome, Battalion CO), ABM-12 Stone Rhino (Command Sergeant Major Michael Witherson), ABM-13 Annihilator (Sergeant Michelle McKay), M-3 McArthur Command Tank, M-1A1 Abrahms MBT, M-2 Longstop Fire Support Tank

The Swarm (LMP): 3 LBM-12 Locust, 1 LBM-12A1 Locust, 1 LBM-12A2 Locust,

1 LBM-12A3 Locust

City Slickers (LMP): LBM-13 Prinha, LBM-14 Urbanmech, LBM-14A1 Urbanmech,

LBM-15 Badger, LBM-16 Firestarter, LBM-17 Venom

1st MMP: MBM-6 Sentinel, MBM-7 Blackjack, MBM-8 Vindicator, MBM-9 Wyvern, MBM-10 Dervish, MBM-11 Shadowhawk

Samurai (HMP): HBM-6A1 Marauder (Captain Tatewaki Kuno, Platoon Leader),

HBM-4 Maelstrom, HBM-12 Dragon Fire, HBM-13 Warhammer, HBM-5 Rifleman, HBM-14 Archer

Hades' Flame (AMP): ABM-19A1 Marauder II (Captain Setsuna Mieou, Platoon Leader),

ABM-15 Victor, ABM-10 Longbow, ABM-16 Highlander, ABM-17 Nightstar, ABM-18 Atlas

Nightstalkers (LVP): 3 M-30 Hephaestus Scout Tanks, 3 M-26 Pegasus Scout Tanks, 2 M-36 Saracen Light Hover Tanks, 2 M-15 Beagle Scout Tanks

Chargers (LVP): 3 M-24 Mithras Light Tanks, 2 M-75 Galleon Light Tanks, 2 M-19 Zorya Light Tanks, 2 M-23 Hunter Light Tanks, 1 M-80 Scorpion Light Tank

1st MVP: 2 M-9 Ares Medium Tanks, 2 M-10 Myrmidon Medium Tanks, 2 M-28 Vedette Medium Tanks, 2 M-42 Enyo Strike Tanks

1st HVP: 2 M-32 SRM Carriers, 2 M-31 Pike Support Tanks, 2 M-106 Heavy LRM Carriers

2nd HVP: 1 M-69 Demolisher II Heavy Tank, 1 M-50 Mars Assault Tank, 1 M-38 Behemoth Heavy Tank, 1 M-52 Alacorn Heavy Tank, 1 M-37 Ontos Heavy Tank, 1 M-65 Challenger X MBT

1st AVP: 4 M-1A1 Abrahms Main Battle Tanks

1st Aerospace Flight: 3 F-2 Stuka

2nd Aerospace Flight: 3 B-52 Strato Fortresses

1st Helicopter Platoon: 2 AH-16 Mantis Light Attack Helicopters, 1 AH-20A Yellow Jacket Gunship (2nd Lieutenant Hotaru Tomoe, Platoon Leader), 1 AH-3A Hawk Moth Gunship (2nd Lieutenant Sasami Jurai), 1 AH-13 Cavalry Attack Helicopter, 2 AH-7A Warrior Attack Helicopters, 1 AH-7 Warrior Attack Helicopter

2nd Helicopter Platoon: 2 OH-58 Kiowa Helicopters, 2 OH-3 Sprint Scout Helicopters, 2 OH-8 Ferret Light Scout Helicopters, 2 AH-5 Pinto Attack Helicopters

1st Field Artillery Platoon: 1 M-2 Longstop Fire Support Tank, 3 M-6 Huitzilopochtli Artillery Tanks, 2 M-8 Padilla Artillery Tanks

1st ADA Platoon: 1 M-4 Artemis ADT, 2 M-39 Longshot ADT, 3 M-20A2 Partisan ADT

Guardians: 6 squads, 6 M-41 Maxim Heavy Transports (Sergeant First Class Angus McRory, Platoon Sergeant)

Amazons (AIP): 6 Squads, 6 UH-42 Anhur Helicopters (1st Lieutenant Xian Pu Liao, Platoon Leader)


	16. Chapter 11

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: I do not own the things that I write here. Well at least not most of them. There are a couple of things that I do, but it was mostly thought up during times of massive tiredness. That which I don't own, I pay homage to those that do, and give them great respect and honor for the great works that they have done.

Chapter 11

Training at Balthas Training Site

Location:

System Edge, Balthas System

Date:

Thursday 1st Day, 9th Month, 3046

Time:

2321 Hours Ship's clock

At the extreme edge of the Balthas system, well outside the sensor range and patrol radius of the local warships, a brief flare of enormous energy occurred as the sleek eight hundred and fifty meter starship suddenly appeared out of the ether. Bright blue disks at both ends of the hull quickly faded to nothing as the transit energy bled off. The ship then slowly started to accelerate, moving forward at a speed that in the Inner Sphere would be seen as suicidally fast, but for this ship was barely moving, poking forward at a mere fifty gravities of acceleration.

On the bridge of the ship, in the captain's chair, sat a tall beautiful woman, resplendent in the black on black of the Royal Manticoran Navy. Behind her on the chair perched a six limbed cat-like creature that seemed to preen with pride as it gazed around the bridge as if IT owned the entire ship. The woman gazed about the bridge, watching the quiet efficiency of a Queen's ship at work, and smiled at both the familiar and unfamiliar faces that surrounded her.

As she was sitting there, a light smile on her face, a young Commander came up to her with a grin on his face. "All is quiet My Lady. Transit was made without anyone noticing and we're under full stealth now." He reported softly.

"Thank you Rafe." She responded with a nod. "Keep us on schedule and could you please notify Lieutenant Colonel Saotome to meet me in my briefing room?"

"Of course Ma'am." He replied as he turned to the comms section as she stood up. Her companion jumped from the back of her chair to her shoulder and she started to walk towards one of the hatches at the back of the bridge.

Ranma walked up slowly to the entrance to the ship captain's briefing room, nodding casually to the officer of the watch. As he approached the briefing room hatch he nodded politely to the green on green uniformed man standing quietly there.

"Jamie, I believe that I was requested to make an appearance before Captain Harrington." He said to the man.

"Of course Lord Saotome" The young man said respectfully as he gave a slight bow before he reached for his comm. and said something softly into it.

The door before Ranma whisked open and he calmly stepped into the room, joining Honor in the briefing room.

As Ranma entered the briefing room, the woman that was sitting at the far end of the table smiled in greeting to him as she waved him into the seat directly across from her.

"So Captain Harrington, what's the good word?" Ranma asked cheerfully as he sat down at the other end.

"Well the good news is that we've entered the Balthas system. So far we haven't been detected but it's a long trip to the target zone." She informed Ranma.

"Well that is good news! What's the estimated time to the target zone right now?" Ranma asked calmly, though he was eager to put his unit to the test and not just the little exercises that they had done back on Manticore.

"We're looking at roughly fifty-three hours before we reach the planet Ranma, after that it'll all be up to you." She responded, an eager glint in her eyes.

"Good that gives me plenty of time to plan and prepare my people. Thank you for the ride Honor." Ranma responded with a light grin.

"It's the least I could do for a fellow Steadholder Ranma. I take it you'll be in your command center from here on out?" She asked with an equally light grin, though the look in her eyes spoke of mischief.

"Yes Ma'am, I'll monitor all traffic from my dropship, we'll release at what, five hours out from the target zone, like we initially discussed?" Ranma asked her.

"Yes, that should put you outside their detection range, and then we'll see if this stealth system is all that the egg-heads are saying it is." She gave him a wry grin as they both rolled their eyes, remembering their bad experiences with science.

"Well I'll head back down to my dropship and start getting my planning section up and running on some contingency plans then. Thanks for the info Honor." Ranma said as he slowly stood up.

"Not a problem Ranma. Once we've dropped you off, we'll be conducting our own exercise against the task force that is stationed here, but if you need something, you know how to get a hold of us." She smiled at him as she stood up as well and walked him to the briefing room hatch.

"Hope your exercise goes well for you then Honor, see you on the other side." He said with a smile as he clapped her on the shoulder as the hatch opened and he started to step out.

"The same to you Ranma." She said softly as she watched her fellow leader leave with a slight spring in his step.

The past forty-eight hours as the ship slowly penetrated deeper into the system had been nerve wracking to say the least. The bridge crew, most especially the Tactical section, had been glued to their readouts. Without being able to use their active sensors things had not been easy for the crew at all. For the past fifteen hours the ship had been running silently, without a scrap of betraying signature, be it radio, radar, or even drive. Already the ship had flown past ships on patrol, mostly sub-light destroyers and frigates that were out, without being detected, but they had passed within two hundred thousand kilometers of a Ranger class Carrier with its CAP out in force. But aside from that very tense hour as they slowly slip past that ship, they had passed completely undetected.

Now they neared one of the other extremely dangerous points of this exercise. They had reached Point Luck, where the dropships of the Wild Horse Battalion would separate from their mother ship and proceed independently to their target landing zones on the planet they were approaching. One by one each of the ships detached slowly and started to drift towards the planet. Soon all of them were detached with only three staying close together as all the others slowly separated from each other as each had their own target area that they were to be landed at for this exercise.

"Looks like we have good separation Sir. Each ship is tracking and on target for their landing zones." Captain Mieou reported to Ranma as he stood in his command center on his dropship.

"Thank you Setsuna, hopefully things will keep looking good for us." He said with a light grin as his ships continued their journey, rapidly opening distance between them and their mothership.

"I think we'll make it down nice and safe Sir." She responded with a grin.

As the seven dropships headed in slowly, the ship they just left used its reaction thrusters to slowly turn, adjusting its vector and taking it to move past the planet within fifty thousand kilometers of the orbiting Nightlord class Battlecruiser, a ship that out massed Honor's ship by three hundred thousand tons, but was completely and totally unaware of the 'threat' that was bearing down on them at a velocity of over twenty five thousand kilometers per second.

Just as the seven dropships started to enter the atmosphere of the Manticoran military's training planet, the HMS Nightstalker, lead ship of her class, flashed directly above the HMS Nightlord, also the lead ship of her class, and fired her port broadside down onto the unprotected top of the opposing battlecruiser just as the Nightstalker's own impeller wedge came up to full strength, protecting the tops and bottoms of the ship as the gravity sidewalls sprang up, protecting her flanks as she shot forward and away from the planet, heading out system, at 5.5 kps squared.

Aboard the Nightlord it was chaos as the computer systems registered the hits as if they had been at full strength and shut system after system down to represent the battle damage the new battlecruiser would have sustained from such a raking. As every other vessel and sensor was pointed now at the Nightstalker, the seven smaller vessels burned in hard, riding thrusters as hard as they could without activating their own wedges as they came scorching down on the planet. As the local ships started to slowly move to follow Honor, the dropships of the Wild Horses slowly and without being seen, landed in their designated areas, areas that were already being used by the 1st Cavalry Division and the local OpFor.

Across the planet in five separate locations, the seven dropships of the 1st Dragoons settled carefully down. As soon as the engines were cycled down, hatches opened and the crew of the dropships, aided by the soldiers of the 1st Dragoons, started to camouflage the 231 meter long craft, making them much harder to detect, while the bridge crews changed their stealth systems from space work to atmospheric work.

Aboard the dropship known by its nickname 'Death's Head', Captain Amy Mizuno sat at the conference table with her executive officer, first sergeant and her platoon leaders. They had been on the planet for less than ten minutes, and while her soldiers were in the process of disguising their mobile base, she and her small unit leaders were discussing plans.

"All right people I'm sure you've all heard what we're supposed to be doing here before, but lets go over the plan again. Our purpose is to cause as much havoc as we can to the 'enemy' by whatever means we have available to us. This includes ambushes, traps, and stealing from them. The only thing we can't do during this mission is something that results in the death of our 'enemy' or the destruction of their equipment, these are fellow Manticorans after all. Other than that, anything goes." She said to her people.

"Ma'am, who are the targets this time?" Asked Captain Sanders, the platoon leader in charge of Delta Company's helicopter platoon.

"We're going after the 1st Cavalry Division again this time, as well as the 2nd Infantry Division who is stationed here on Balthas as the OpFor for any unit that comes here to train. They don't know that we're here as well for training, so this will be a unique opportunity for both of these divisions." She answered.

"The 1st Cavalry again? This will be what, the third time we've hit them? I hope they haven't learned from the last two times." 1st Lieutenant Casselman, platoon leader of the scout vehicle platoon.

"So do I LT Casselman, but regardless of if they have or not, we're going to proceed as if they DO know we're here and they DO know what our intended mission is. So let's come up with some basic plans." She responded.

As the men and women of Delta Company bent their heads to discuss ideas, the other companies of the 1st Dragoons were doing the same thing. Across the planet, four 'line' companies and the headquarters company, combined with the Commander's Own, were planning their tactics and how and who they were going to raid the two divisions that were currently on the planet.

Two thousand kilometers away from Delta Company, at the base of a mountain, lay the dropship that brought Alpha Company, 1st Dragoons, also known as the Annihilators. Captain Makoto Saotome gazed out of her cabin window to the snow covered area around her ship with a heavy sigh. They had been on planet for almost a week now, and her recon elements had been doing what they could to find any sign nearby of any forces. So far they hadn't found anything within twenty kilometers of her base, which was good and bad. Good because it meant that any retaliation wasn't going to easily find her base, but bad because it exposed her people to greater travel times.

The door to her cabin buzzed as she stood there and she looked over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow.

"It's open." She said loud enough to be heard.

The door opened up to reveal her senior noncommissioned officer, 1SG Haruka Ten'Oh. Her old friend walked up to her and gazed out of the window with her.

"Just got some good news finally." She said as a way of greeting her.

"Oh?" Makoto turned to face her senior NCO, curiosity written on her face.

"Yup! We just had two cavalry squadrons and a mixed bag battalion move into the area. The cav units are definitely First Cavalry, and the mixed bag unit is in unmarked vehicles, which makes them the OPFOR." Haruka reported with a wide grin.

"Excellent, how far away are their camps?" She asked as her brain started ticking away at the new task of how to relieve the three units of their supplies.

"That's the only bit of bad news. The cavalry units are about eight kilometers away and the OPFOR is only five kilometers away, just a little too close for my comfort, but they haven't detected us yet." She said.

Makoto winced at that information as that was indeed far too close for her comfort as well. That made it very dangerous for them as a whole to try to acquire what they had come here to do. All three units would probably be on high alert for ANY kind of intrusion into their base camps because of the probable mission that they were on.

"Yeah that is bad, but I think we can do this. Get the infantry units out there to scout this out, quietly, I want to know what exactly we're facing and how they've arranged themselves. Then we'll start planning on how we're going to pull the rug out from under all three units." She ordered confidently.

Haruka saluted then turned around and slowly left her commander's cabin to see to it that her orders were carried out.

The AMB-17A1 Nightstar mech stood silently in the forest, its ECM active and preventing the passing convoy from seeing it and the rest of the mechs in the area. Inside the mech, Captain Tenchi Misaki watched the convoy slowly enter the kill zone that he had laid out for his people. They were laid out on either side of the choke point in the forest with only thirteen mechs, in this case his assault and medium platoons. His other forces were hitting three other convoys scattered about the thirty kilometer zone that he was currently operating in.

As he watched as the lead mech that was escorting this line of SHCTs through the forest he gave the signal to attack by targeting the mech and blasting it with his KPC and the computer sent a signal to the heavy mech he had shot at that it had been hit by two Gauss rounds as well. The mech, a HBM-6 Marauder, acknowledged the hits and promptly shut down the mech signaling that it was dead.

Across the whole small valley other shots were fired as all the other mechs open up, taking out each of the escorting mechs and tanks with deadly efficiency. Within a minute of the first round being shot, every escorting vehicle was destroyed and the convoy commander had surrendered under the guns of the Black Knights.

The supplies were quickly off loaded from the SHCTs and onto the various transport vehicles that had come along with Captain Misaki. As they were doing it, he dismounted out of his mech and climbed down to talk to the convoy commander.

As he approached, he could tell that the major that was in charge was extremely pissed at his escort being taken out so quickly, but he was even more pissed about what the cheerful and insulting men and women of Bravo Company 1/1 Dragons doing at that moment.

"What is the meaning of this!?" he yelled at Tenchi as he came up to the man and saluted him politely.

"What is the meaning of what Sir?" Tenchi asked politely, knowing it would infuriate the man even more.

"What the hell are your men doing?! This isn't part of the scenario!" He screamed back at Tenchi.

"Ahh but which scenario are you meaning Sir? The one I'm operating under says that your convoy and its supplies are fair game, and you better hope that I have enough transportation capacity for everything." He said with a light grin.

The Major stopped and turned to slowly stare at Tenchi. "Who the hell are you?" He asked very slowly.

Tenchi looked thoughtful, as if he might not answer the question, but eventually decided to actually answer the man, after all, it's not like they would be able to take any actions against him. "I am Captain Tenchi Misaki, Royal Manticoran Army. And my men are completing their mission."

Ranma was sitting in his office aboard the dropship that carried the Commander's Own down to the planet. He looked out the armorplast window as the setting sun streamed into the canyon that the ship had been settled into. He smiled softly as he turned back around to continue reading through the reports from his company commanders. They had been on Balthas for almost a month, and while he was having to rush his training more than he had been comfortable with initially, he was quite proud of how his people had been doing. The actual operational pattern called for what they had been doing since they arrived to be stretched out over several months, rather than compacting it down into only a handful of weeks.

The current report that he was reading was from Charlie Company. It was mostly filled with readiness reports and current stores levels. It seemed that none of the forces that they had come here to raid were anywhere within the raiding zone of the Crimson Stalkers. He was contemplating the risk of having them lift and shift to a new area. Things had been getting a little hot in certain areas of operations and he was also starting to think that maybe they should pull their horns in a little and let things cool down.

By pure luck of the draw Bravo Company was his most aggressive company, having the luck of landing near three major supply routes. However his most daring company was Delta Company. In three weeks they had raided fifteen different bases and outposts, most of the time slipping in and out without being detected at all. The most daring had been the raid upon the Division Headquarters camp of the 1st Cavalry Division, where upon the company had walked away with no less than ten cases of the Commanding General's private stock of thirty year old Gryphon Whiskey. He knew it was from the General's private stock because only his father would think to bring that much whiskey, and the good stuff to boot, to a two month long training event. That and because Delta Company had sent a case to him and also left a note thanking the General for the whiskey.

He was about to change to the next report when there was a knock on his office door. He glanced at the clock imbedded into the desk and gave a wry grimace. His daily afternoon intelligence brief was actually fifteen minutes late and he wondered what had kept Mu Tsu so late. He hit the open button allowing the door to open and was shocked to see not his S-2 OIC, but his Assistant S-2, First Lieutenant Amaia Stohler, standing on the other side.

Ranma raised an eyebrow at her, feeling both comfortable at seeing her, yet uncomfortable at the same time. "Lieutenant Stohler, how can I help you?" He asked.

"Major Liao asked me to conduct today's intelligence brief sir. He is unfortunately tied up in other matters and is unable to attend. I'm sorry I'm late but I had to make sure I had all the data." She replied formally, almost stiffly.

Ranma nodded and waved her into the office while he signed internally, wishing that he could get her to relax and lay off the formality all of the time, like that one time three months ago when they….. He chopped that thought off as being too dangerous a road for his thoughts to travel, no matter what may have happened or what had been said between them. Instead he smiled lightly and waved her into one of the comfortable chairs in front of his desk.

"So what's the latest intelligence that you've brought?" He asked her.

"The biggest news is that the 1st Cavalry will be pulling back in and concentrating its forces while it conducts an investigation into the theft of all the supplies and material that we've been acquiring from them sir. Also it appears that the 2nd Infantry Division will be doing the same thing." She reported, following the advice and instructions from her OIC on how to brief Ranma. "Also we've had reports that both formations have not only tripled their guard forces, but have also increased reconnaissance patrols in order to find our forces."

Ranma grimaced at the last news. The increased guards both made their job harder in the raiding aspect but also easier because it made the 'enemy' more tired from pulling more duty. The increased recon patrols, however, were very bad as that increased the chances of someone getting lucky and spotting them and reporting it to their higher.

She stiffened up at his grimace and she wondered what she had said that had upset her commander as she could literally feel his annoyance with something she had told him.

Ranma glanced at her as he felt her tighten up and he grimaced harder inside. He waves his hand at her casually to signify he wasn't upset with her.

"Relax Mai, I'm not upset with you. I was somewhat expecting them to react like that, its just going to be more difficult for us now." He told her and watched her relax slightly as she accepted his words. "On the other hand, I need you and Mu Tsu to find out if the other units are moving to war shots instead of training rounds due to our thefts. The last thing that we need is a fratricide incident with our own people! If they are loading war shots then that changes the whole game plan. The whole operation goes out the window and we'll reveal ourselves immediately." He informed her.

She cocked her head to the side and looked curiously and a little shocked at him. "But sir, our orders from the General clearly state…" She trailed off as Ranma raised a hand at her.

"Mai, the General also told me that there was no need to risk the lives of the soldiers under my command. If they come at us with war rounds loaded then we'll turn on our IFF beacons and announce who we are to prevent that from happening, even if that hurts our program." He told her.

She nodded in understanding, then seemed to hesitate briefly before she took a deep breath and looked squarely at him. "Sir, Ranma, can I talk to you about something personal and important?" She asked a little hesitant.

Ranma blinked and looked curiously at her before he nodded slowly. "Of course Mai, I told you before that my door was always open, especially after what happened three months ago." He told her.

"Thank you. Well I don't know how to say this but…" She started when suddenly the office door burst open to reveal Angus.

"Sir! Delta Company just captured a scout section but not before they reported in their location! Sounds like all hell is breaking loose, the air is full of comm. chatter right now!" He said rapidly.

Ranma's eyes widened and he cursed suddenly. "Angus alert the base, we're moving as soon as the dropships are capable for Bravo Point!" He said rapidly.

Angus nodded and ducked back out heading to pass the word while Ranma turned to Amaia. "I'm going to have to take a rain check on what you were going to tell me Mai. I'm sorry but this could get ugly." He told her with and apologetic look on his face.

Amaia sighed inside but nodded and smiled serenely. "Its okay sir, I understand. Let's go save our friends." She said softly.

Ranma smiled lightly and stood up. He came around the desk as she stood up and he lightly kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you for understanding and I promise you, after this we'll talk." He promised her, then dashed out the door heading for the command center.

Behind him in his office, Amaia blushed lightly and touched both her cheek and her abdomen with a hand lightly. She then shook herself and her expression fell back into its business façade as she took herself to task. "Get a hold of yourself Mai, he has a girlfriend already, fiancée actually, and three of them! There is no way he has room for you at all, you're on your own for this, even when I tell him." She told herself. She then squared her shoulder and headed for the command center herself, knowing there was a lot of work to be done.

Inside the command center was organized chaos as people were talking and passing information and instructions back and forth. At the center of it all stood Ranma, staring at the holo projection of his total area of operations, watching the enemy units starting to slowly consolidate. He grimaced as he estimated how long it would take and realized it would be tight but doable.

"Specialist Williams." Ranma suddenly said to one of the radio operators.

"Sir?" The young woman responded, paying attention to her battalion commander.

"Guidon call, all units Dodge, say again Dodge, Point Bravo." He told her.

"Yes sir, all units Dodge and Point Bravo." She responded then picked up the hand mike. "Guidons, guidons, guidons, this is Wild Horse Main. All units Dodge, I say again all units Dodge, Point Bravo. Acknowledge in sequence, over."

"This is Alpha, Dodge acknowledged."

"This is Bravo, Dodge acknowledged."

"This is Charlie, Dodge acknowledged."

"This is Delta, already in route."

"This is Wild Horse Main, out." She responded then turned to Ranma. "Sir all units acknowledge the order."

Ranma nodded in acknowledgement and turned to see Captain Tatewaki and Captain Bransford standing nearby. "Gentlemen we had better get ourselves moving, any asset on ground is going to get moving now and as soon as the dropships are ready, they'll follow. Once there we'll set up defensive positions and go from there. Bravo is the closest unit so we'll see them first, lets make this as smooth as possible." He told them.

"Yes Sir!" Responded Captain Bransford.

"It shall be done My Lord." Captain Tatewaki said formally, then both men turned and left to get their units moving.

Ranma stood in the cockpit of his mech with the hatch open, allowing the breeze to enter his mech as he watched the various platoons of the Commander's Own set up their positions. As he watched proudly as they set up in ambush positions, his com came alive.

"Wild Horse Six, this is Wild Horse Five, Delta is going to be coming in last, they're roughly five hours out. Everyone else should be able to settle in right prior to that. In fact Bravo should be arriving any minute now." Major Habiki reported.

"Five this is Six, acknowledged. Let's make sure we've got a nice warm welcome for our guests when they get here." Ranma responded.

"We'll make it a VERY warm welcome Six, Five out."

Ranma smiled in response then twitched as he felt, more than heard, something large moving towards his position. He looked up the valley of the box canyon that his people were occupying to see the nose of one of the Sneak Thief class dropships slowly gliding down on its counter-gravity drive. 'It's a beautiful sight.' He thought as he continued to watch. 'I wonder what Mai wanted to talk about. She seemed pretty upset about something. I hope its nothing too serious.'

Over the span of four hours the other companies of the 1st Dragoons gathered in that valley. All the combat assets spread out, lining the walls and tops of the box canyon with firepower, while the engineers disguised them from overhead view by satellite or over-flight.

They had just finished as the first units of Delta Company rolled into the valley with the dropship not far behind. The dropship settled into the clear fire zone preplanned for it while it deployed its weapons and the combat units spread out to the extreme edges of the canyon to provide cover fire.

Two kilometers away the fighters and bombers of the 1st Dragoons, minus their Delta Company companions, went into a hover along with every combat helicopter in preparation for the word to attack.

Barely a half hour after they had settled in, Ranma watched on a small holo display as units of both the divisions currently on Balthas moved in support of each other. Ranma grinned as he identified his father's personal mech in that mass of metal heading at his lone battalion. According to the computer he was looking at the better part of four whole regiments or brigades coming at him.

"Guidons, this is Wild Horse Six, looks like we attracted a little attention. Make sure your computers are set to training mode and you don't have any war shots loaded. Our dance partners are about two hours out and I'm sure they'll be doing a fly by soon. Delta, you're in the hot box until the main force gets at extreme range. At that time I want you to challenge whoever is in charge. We'll play it by ear from there." Ranma said over his radio.

"This is Death's Head Six, acknowledged. Do we fire upon the air craft if they don't fire?" Captain Mizuno asked.

"Feel free to light them up with your anti-air assets to discourage them from getting low enough to visually identify anything. Also, light up every ounce of ECM you've got, let's make this interesting." He answered.

"Wilco Sir. Good hunting." She responded.

"Good hunting Death's Head. Wild Horse Six, out." Ranma leaned back in his cockpit and sighed as he waited.

As Ranma had predicted, the canyon had been over-flown by light aerospace fighters. When they had attempted a high speed, low altitude pass, Delta Company 'lit' up the sky, and had the rounds and lasers been live, would have knocked down every bird that attempted the fly-by. Ranma grinned as he heard the pilots cursing as their computers told them they were dead and without acquiring the information they needed. His grin widened as his father started cursing whoever was in charge of the unit he was about to attack. Right as they entered just beyond extreme range the general free channel came alive.

"Approaching force, this is Captain Ami Mizuno, commanding officer of Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Dragoons Regiment. Identify yourself and state your intentions." Came Ami's voice from the radio as she challenged the approaching force.

"Captain Mizuno, this is General Genma Saotome of the 1st Cavalry Division with elements of the 1st Cavalry and 2nd Infantry Divisions. You will surrender your command to my authority pending an investigation of theft. Oh and don't think your relationship with my son is going to protect you." Genma responded.

"General Saotome, I protest your statement. My unit has not been committing thefts of any sort, we have been conducting a training exercise in preparation for our wartime mission. I respectfully refuse to surrender my command to you. If you want my people, then come and dig us out in accordance with the training guidelines of this training site." She challenged.

Ranma knew what his father would do and watched his mech as it came into range of Ranma's weapons at last.

"If that is how you want to do this then so be it Captain." Genma responded as his units started to move forward. "After all, its just your one company in there and I've got far more troops. You will submit."

Ranma grinned as he targeted his father's mech then keyed his mike. "Delta Company is NOT alone father. Wild Horses never surrender!" He said over the radio as he 'shot' his father, 'killing' him. As he did a storm of notional fire power poured out of the box canyon as every mech, vehicle and dropship opened fire. Then after that massive salvo the fighters and bombers flew overhead strafing and bombing the survivors. Then to add insult to injury the combat helicopters swooped in adding to the confusion by targeting surviving command and control vehicles. Chaos reigned amongst the members of the 1st Cavalry and 2nd Infantry. Then a second mighty salvo came roaring out of the valley. After that second salvo, Ranma's computer was saying that their opponents had suffered about an 85% loss rate. Ranma grinned as he keyed his radio.

"Surviving units, this is Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, 1st Dragoons Regiment. I call upon you to surrender your forces to my unit and an end to this exercise so that we can conduct an after action review of the past couple of months." He said as his units started to individually target survivors.

"Colonel Saotome, this is Sergeant Williams, 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon, Alpha Company, 1-2 Infantry. We surrender Sir!" Came a reply after about two or three minutes.

"Thank you Sergeant Williams, your surrender is accepted and on my authority I am endexing this exercise." Ranma responded.

"Colonel Saotome, this is Pegasus Five, where will the AAR be conducted?" A different voice asked.

"Pegasus Five, this is Wild Horse Six, the AAR point will be aboard my command dropship, call sign Commander's Own. My dining facility personnel will have food and drink available as I'm sure all of the commanding officers haven't eaten in several hours." Ranma responded.

"Thank you Wild Horse Six, that would be much appreciated. We'll all be there fairly quickly. Pegasus Five out." Came the response.

Ranma smiled and switched over to the battalion net and keyed his mike. "All Wild Horses, this is Wild Horse Six. Good job everyone. All six elements report to the command dropship for AAR and bring your nine elements. Everyone support and assist our guests in relaxing, lets be friendly to them and make a good impression. Wild Horse Six out." Ranma said.

Ranma was sitting in his large conference room, his company commanders and first sergeants behind him, off to his left were the senior observer/controllers that had been retroactively attached to his companies. In front of them were several chairs, hopefully enough for all the commanders, sergeants major, first sergeants and battalion and above executive officers. As they sat there, officers and senior NCOs started to file in. most of them had expressions that bordered on murderous, though the occasional one was curious or respectful. Then they saw the food and drink laid out and Ranma smiled inside.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please feel free to partake of the food and drink my dining facility has been able to provide. Your troops outside are also being provided by my people as well, as we speak." Ranma informed them with a respectful smile.

The people who had walked in actually looked surprised at the generosity of the 1st Dragoons. This, of course, didn't stop any of them from taking advantage of the offered food. As they got food and moved to take seats, they noticed that the only places with labels on them were three seats up at the same table that Ranma and his people sat at. Those three seats said Pegasus 6, Pegasus 5, and Pegasus 9 and all three were empty at this time.

From by the door Angus watched the whole affair get settled down. He looked over at the two guards he had stationed there. Staff Sergeant Shawn Meads and Sergeant 'Minnie' May Hopkins looked sharp in their battle dress uniforms, and he was glad he picked those two explosive troublemakers; otherwise he was sure they'd do something to the vehicles and mechs outside. Inside he had the rest of Staff Sergeant Irene 'Rally' Vincent's squad pulling guard, just in case. As the three stood there, Angus saw General Saotome and two others approaching. General Saotome's expression looked stormy, at best, and Angus walked up to the trio and saluted sharply.

"General Saotome, I am Sergeant First Class Angus McRory, acting First Sergeant of the Commander's Own Company and guard commander for Lieutenant Colonel Saotme. In the name of the Wild Horse Battalion I welcome you to our headquarters. We have food set aside for you, your executive officer and your sergeant major as well as seats at the high table with the command teams of the Wild Horse Battalion." He said in greeting.

General Saotome returned the salute and his expression calmed down. "Thank you Angus, and congratulations on your promotion, it is well deserved." He replied.

Angus nodded in thanks then waved the trio forward with him. All four approached the door and Angus nodded subtly to May, who opened the door the bellowed out "Pegasus Six!"

The whole room popped to attention as the general walked in. General Saotome and his people walked up to their seats, as they stood there Genma looked over how things were set up and smiled inside. His son had tried to keep it as informal as possible.

"Take your seats and enjoy your food everyone." He said and then everyone sat back down and went back to eating. As Genma sat down, he found Kunatsu at his elbow placing an okonomiyaki in front of hi and his XO along with utensils and drinks.

"Please enjoy gentlemen. Sergeant Major, your food will be here shortly." Kunatsu said politely before he faded away.

Genma looked over at his son and raised an eyebrow at him. Ranma grinned back at him then stood up.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome and I'd like to thank all of you for coming to this after action review." He started.

"Like we had a lot of choice in the matter Saotome." Someone cracked from the back of the room, causing a few to chuckle, including Ranma.

"True, but thank you anyway. This exercise, which you have unknowingly participated in, was the final test for the 1st Dragoons prior to our first full up operation. If the OCs and you, my fellow commanders, write the reports I expect, then within two months of returning to Manticore, I expect my unit will be deployed for its first time. Regardless of what the OCs may say about this exercise, I want to thank all of you for what I feel was a truly successful training exercise." Ranma told them.

"Colonel Saotome, can you tell us what your unit is meant to do and why we would need such a unit?" A full Colonel asked.

"Unfortunately that information is classified Hal, only Division Commanders and above are cleared right now." Genma spoke up.

Several people grumbled at what they felt was a cop out answer. Ranma grinned and glanced at first his father, then over to Major Liao.

"I've actually addressed this issue with my higher headquarters, and the response I was given is this. The purpose of the Dragoons Regiments is to disrupt the war fighting capability of any enemy that the Kingdom directs us to attack." Ranma informed everyone.

"I'd say your people have that skill down pat! I know it would have been extremely difficult for me to fight without ammo or rations or spare parts!" A captain exclaimed.

A few people chuckled in reaction as Ranma grinned. "That was the whole idea, but I'll turn it over to the OCs and let them do their thing." Ranma stated as he waved to the senior OC.

After the AAR, Ranma invited his father to join him in his quarters aboard his dropship. When the two men walked in they saw Ami, Hotaru and Sara sitting in the room chatting with Amaia. Ranma smiled happily, though he hoped his fiancées wouldn't be too upset if they ever found out what his mother had arranged to happen.

The four women rose when the men walked in, but Genma waved them back into their seats. Ranma walked up and kissed each of his fiancées and gave Amaia a warm hug before sitting down on a couch, between Hotaru and Sara. Amaia smiled subtly and stood, then walked over and pulled out a crystal bottle and poured the amber liquid into enough cups for everyone but her and then brought them to everyone before sitting down on the other side of Sara. Ranma glanced at her and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Amaia, aren't you going to get yourself a glass?" He asked her.

"No, thank you Sir, I don't believe that would be a good idea for me." She politely declined.

Ranma blinked and then shrugged, before he sipped on his glass, then glanced at his father. "So what do you think about my unit now pops?" Ranma asked.

Genma grinned at seeing Amaia stare suddenly at Ranma in almost shock and horror at addressing the general so casually in front of juniors, even if it was his father. "Well you punk, I'd have to say that I'm impressed. I feared they had handed you an impossible task!" Genma complimented him.

"Father, do you not like your drink?" Ami asked with a twinkle in her eye that went unnoticed by Genma.

Amaia sighed internally as she realized that this family worked by a completely different set of rules compared to hers as she watched General Saotome look like a little boy caught being bad before he sipped his drink. His eyes widened in surprise and appreciation before they narrowed suddenly.

"Wait a minute! Where did you get this whiskey?" Genma asked sharply at Ranma.

"Well pops, Ami here found a few bottles of it a while back and she shared the wealth as she knew I enjoyed a good whiskey thanks to you." Ranma answered. "Why do you ask?"

"I had several cases disappear from my private stores that I had brought to celebrate with at the end of the training. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you Ami?" Genma replied as he gazed sharply at Ami.

Ami gazed back so innocently you could almost see a halo above her head. "I didn't know you had brought a similar whiskey sir. I only brought a couple of bottles with us." She said innocently.

Genma grunted and sipped his whiskey. "So boy, when is the wedding? Your mother doesn't want to wait forever before you start having kids ya know."

"I know old man. My steward on Grayson is arranging everything and we'll be having the ceremony there in about three months from when we return. Of course that's in route to our first deployment as well." Ranma informed him.

Genma looked sharply at Ranma. "Do they?" He asked cryptically. Ranma shook his head. "Then you better make sure they do. In fact it would be a good idea if all of you cleared the air with any potential secrets might harm those you love. Remember, Ranma is a steadholder and will be formally invested as such after you get married, so all of your pasts and all of your secrets will eventually come out or hurt him. I'm not saying this to scare any of you, but to let you know what is going to happen." Genma said to them.

Sara and Amaia nodded firmly, while Ami looked determined and Hotaru looked a little frightened at first then looked as determined as Ami. Ranma gulped a little but nodded to his father.

"We'll do that on the way back to Manticore Dad. I promise that by the time you return we'll have cleared the air between us." He swore.

End Chapter!

End Author's Notes: Holy poop on a stick but it's finally finished! Sorry it took so long to write this one, but I just had a serious case of writer's block. Hopefully it's all finally passed and I can start cranking out more chapters. Lots of interesting information in this chapter. Feel free to give guesses as to what kind of secrets will be revealed, I'm interested to know what every thinks they are. Until the next chapter all of my fans!

This is Captain Dave signing off!


	17. Chapter 12

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: I do not own the things that I write here. Well at least not most of them. There are a couple of things that I do, but it was mostly thought up during times of massive tiredness. That which I don't own, I pay homage to those that do, and give them great respect and honor for the great works that they have done.

Chapter 12

Revelations

Location

HMS Nightstalker in Hyperspace

Date

Monday 5th Day, 10th Month, 3046 TY

Time

1852 Ship's Clock

Ranma was quietly having dinner with his three fiancées, and at their request, Amaia as well. Everyone was quietly enjoying the food that Ukuyo had made for them. Of them, Ranma noticed that Amaia was eating more than she normally did. As they were finishing the desert, Ranma cleared his throat, getting everyone's attention.

"Like my father said, we should clear the air between us. I know that some of us have secrets, myself included, and I'm sure that some of you have heard rumors about each other as well. I'm going to start, because if any of my secrets end up being too much for anyone, its better you know now so that you still have the time to back away from the wedding." Ranma said to them.

"Ranma, I'm sure I speak for everyone here, I doubt that anything you say will cause us to back out now, and its not like you're going to add to your 'harem'" Ami responded. Amaia flinched at Ami's words though only Ranma saw her movement.

Ranma took a deep breath. "Well I'll start with the larger secret in my opinion. All of you know that my mother is a geneticist. What most of you don't know is that she has been on several government projects to research a way to improve the capabilities of our soldiers by use of their own internal energy or Ki. Part of that was to see about the creation or modifications of someone to increase the output of their Ki. Mother had partially succeeded in doing this in me, but it had a side affect that was unacceptable and the project was cancelled. The side affect is that if I burn too much Ki, I will involuntarily change shape, adopting a form that recovers Ki faster. Now I can also assume that form at will as well, due to the training I've done. But you need to know this so you don't freak out too badly if I happen to change form." Ranma told them.

"Ranma I doubt that you could turn into anything that would upset us greatly, unless it was a bug or something gross like that!" Hotaru said teasingly.

"Yeah Ranma, just change and show us already!" Sara agreed.

"All right, but remember, you asked for it." Ranma said as he stood up and removed his shirt. Ami whistled playfully at seeing a bare chested Ranma before them, but he only winked at them then said. "Don't blink."

Before their eyes, Ranma's form wavered and changed, shrinking and yet growing as Ranma's hair went from black to a deep red. When the change was complete, before the four ladies sat a shorter, bustier, curvier, red headed and female Ranma. Hotaru, who was sitting next to Ranma on her left, couldn't resist and reached across and gently squeezed Ranma's rather large assets, causing Ranma to gasp both in surprise and pleasure.

"Hotaru, please don't fondle Ranma at the dinner table." Amaia said respectfully as she stared at her across from Ranma." It's rude! And its not like all of you can do it right now."

Hotaru blushed and quickly let go of Ranma's rather prodigious mammary with a muttered apology. Ranma sighed and gave Amaia a small smile of thanks.

"How is this scientifically possible?" Ami asked as she leaned forward to look up and down at the bare chested female Ranma. "And is the change fully complete?"

Ranma sighed and put her shirt back on and then answered Ami. "Well I don't know the science behind it, but yes the change is complete, right down to the plumbing. And yes that includes the fact that I can get pregnant. It's unlikely but still possible. It's also easier to deal with certain things in this form, oh and chocolate tastes better like this." His last comment caused a few chuckles around the table. Sara glanced at the others then back at Ranma.

"There is more, isn't there Ranma? It seems like there is always something more when it comes to you my love." She said softly.

Ranma sighed again, deeper this time, and nodded slowly, looking down at the table. "Yes there is something more. It's something I am not proud of entirely. But neither do I regret that it happened." She said in her soft soprano voice as she glanced up slightly at Amaia when she gasped slightly. She then looked around the table, a slightly apprehensive look on her face.

"What is it Ranma-love?" Hotaru asked concernedly. "You can tell us, we love and support you.

Ranma took a deep breath and gave a weak smile. "All of you are familiar with how grandchild crazy my mother is right?" She asked. All four women by birth nodded, having all experienced Nodoka Saotome in full 'want grand babies' mode. "Well she crossed the fine line I've maintained with her three months ago. You all remember that party that my mother threw for my officers and staff right before we started prepping to go to Balthas right?"

"Yeah I remember that party. I also remember her occupying all three of us until the next day talking. And her giving you and Amaia dri…." Ami trailed off in horror as she looked back and forth between Ranma and Amaia. "No! She didn't!?"

Ranma looked down at the table then back up at Ami and nodded.

"Wait, what did she do?" Hotaru asked innocently as Sara's expression started to darken as she figured out what Ami was meaning.

"My mother drugged the drinks that she had given me and Amaia. Her reasoning was that the three of you were just a little too reluctant to the idea of getting pregnant quickly for her peace of mind, so she took steps to at least give the opportunity of it to happen much sooner. The result was that Amaia and I had a rather interesting night while my mother kept all three of you busy with wedding plans." Ranma told them.

"She did WHAT!" Hotaru exclaimed coming to her feet. "How DARE that woman do that to my future husband and lover!" Hotaru stood there huffing in anger that actually caused everyone BUT Ami to shy away from her.

"Hotaru, calm down now! We don't need you losing your temper inside a spaceship!" Ami said commandingly.

Hotaru wheeled on Ami, fire in her eyes. "But what about what that woman has done?! She should be punished! She forced two people together instead of letting them come together naturally like we figured would happen after what we had seen during the training event!" She said heatedly.

Ami made a chopping motion and glared at Hotaru as Ranma and Amaia stared at Hotaru in shock and wonder. "Quiet Hotaru and let Ranma finish!" Hotaru snarled but sat down and looked at Ranma and Amaia. "I'm sorry you had to see that." She said gruffly.

"Ranma, how many times did the two of you go at it?" Sara asked curiously.

Ranma blushed and mumbled something as he looked down at the table, unable to look at any of the women at all. Sara sighed then looked over at Amaia and raised and eyebrow. "So Amaia, how many times?" She asked.

Amaia gazed at the woman she knew as Michelle KcKay blankly for a second then gave her a flat glare. "And what makes you think I'm going to tell you that information Sergeant McKay?" she asked flatly.

"Um the fact that out of the four of us, you're the only one who has bedded him? And that we're just about dying of curiosity to know how good he is and if he lives up to his name." Sara responded.

"You do not have enough rank to compel me to give that information Sergeant." Amaia said stiffly as she glared at the impertinent NCO.

Ami grinned wickedly at her. "She might not have the rank, but I do Lieutenant. Would you please give us the information? We ask this not to embarrass you and Ranma, but because we love him and want to know from someone who has enjoyed the company of the man we love, and his sister has been even more resistant to giving us that information." Ami said.

Amaia looked over at Ranma and her expression softened at seeing how embarrassed she looked. "Ranma." She said softly, causing her to look up at Amaia. "I won't tell them if you don't want me to, no matter who may ask."

Ranma sighed and gave her a weak smile but nodded. "Thank you Amaia, you can tell them whatever they ask about that night as long as it doesn't get too personal for you." She answered.

Amaia nodded to her and then looked at the other women. "Fine, I will answer your question. Ranma was good for seven times in six hours. I did not get much sleep that night."

All three women stared at her slack-jawed in shock. Ranma blushed a little harder, her face turning almost as red as her hair.

"S..Se..Seven TIMES!?" Hotaru exclaimed then sat down heavily, looking faint.

"Amaia nodded seriously, though a little smugly as the other three seemed a little overwhelmed at what she said.

"How many times did you?" Sara asked almost breathlessly.

Amaia continued to hold a serious expression, though her face turned bright red when she said in a flat voice. "I lost count around twenty-five."

"Twenty-five!?" Hotaru squealed, then passed out with a happy smile on her face while the other two looked between Amaia and Ranma then at each other in awe and a touch of envy.

"Hotaru!" Ranma exclaimed as she moved to see how her fallen fiancée was.

Ami and Sara came around and sat on either side of Amaia.

"You are SO lucky Amaia!" Sara said enviously.

"Indeed, I hope that we get that lucky when it's our turn." Ami said softly.

After Ranma had woken Hotaru back up she looked at all the other women, a confused look on her face. "You all aren't upset with me and Amaia for basically cheating on you?" She asked confusedly.

The three looked at each other, then Hotaru reached out and lightly tweaked one of Ranma's currently stiff nipples, causing her to yelp and fall backwards on her ass, twitching and putting her arms over her chest in defense.

"Ranma, did you enjoy your time with Amaia?" Hotaru asked. Ranma nodded slowly and hesitantly, expecting to get hit for admitting she really enjoyed what she did with Amaia. Hotaru smiled lightly then turned to Amaia. "Amaia I'm going to assume that you enjoyed your ride on the Wild Horse." Amaia nodded with a slightly satisfied look. Hotaru then looked at the other two, and they nodded to her. She then turned and looked at the two 'culprits'. "Well then as far as we are concerned it's not an issue. The two of you were drugged, which means you were both technically raped by Nodoka. But we'll leave that aside and just ignore it for the time being. Just if you get the urge again Amaia, talk to us first please!" Hotaru said looking pointedly at Amaia.

"Hotaru, I doubt it will happen again, it would be inadvisable for everyone involved." Amaia said almost coldly, failing to notice Ranma wince and look depressed at her words, though Ami had not and she leveled a glare at Amaia.

"Amaia, if you would come with me please." Ami commanded before she looked at Hotaru and Sara, then looked to Ranma.

"Of course Ma'am." Amaia said as she stood up and followed Ami into the other room.

As the two women left, Sara turned to Ranma and saw his expression. She instantly wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. "Ranma, honey, what's wrong?" She asked softly.

"She doesn't care?" She whispered dejectedly. "That's so different from what she told me three months ago."

Sara sighed while Hotaru looked murderous and glared at the door they had walked through earlier. "I'll kill her! How dare she hurt you Ranma!" Hotaru snarled angrily.

Ranma glanced up suddenly a scared look on her face, though she wouldn't have admitted it. "Hotaru, no! She didn't purposefully mean to hurt me, I'm sure of it! What happened to the sweet innocent young woman that I knew?" She said quickly.

Hotaru winced and then sighed. "Ami already knows this secret and I'm sure she'll tell Amaia as well. There are two sides to me due to a power that isn't Ki, that I've carried since I was a young girl. I can both heal and bring people back from death, and I have the power to virtually vaporize a small moon without breaking a sweat. I could conceivably destroy a planet, but only if I'm willing to die myself." She told them "Because of that, and the fact that those powers left me pretty much alone, because nobody wanted to be around a freak like me, until I met Ami and Makoto and all their friends. I value my friends and loved ones so much that when something hurts them, I have a difficult time restraining my destructive impulses to eliminate whatever hurt them. I dread what would happen if Ranma nd you and Ami were all killed." Hotaru finished looking at Sara's shocked expression.

Ranma grabbed and hugged Hotaru tightly, inadvertently burying Hotaru's face between Ranma's breasts, causing Hotaru to squeal in surprise.

"I'm soory you had to go through that growing up Taru-chan." Ranma said huskily. "I'll help you gain better control over your abilities. I know how much control is critical to people like you and me."

"Umm Ranma, you might want to let Hotaru up before she runs out of breath." Sara said with a light chuckle.

"Opps!" Ranma said as she let Hotaru up.

Hotaru leaned back with a deep blush on her face and a dreamy look in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry Hotaru!" Ranma exclaimed. "Are you okay?"

"So soft and beautiful." Hotaru said in a dreamy voice, causing Ranma to blush even harder.

"I think that young Hotaru is bi-sexual love." Sara said with a grin. "And if she is, she isn't alone because I know I am and I'm sure Ami is as well."

"Awk!" Ranma blushed even harder at the idea that the women who loved her wanted to sleep with her in her female form and male form.

Before anything else could happen the door opened and Ami and Amaia walked back in. Ami looking calm and collected, while Amaia looked shocked and was shivering as if she had spent too much time outside in freezing temperatures. "So what happened out here to make Hotaru look like that?" Ami asked casually.

"She told her story to an emotionally charged Ranma, and Ranma decided she needed comfort and pulled her in for a hug, and ended up burying Hotaru's face in her cleavage." Sara said with a chuckle, causing Ranma to blush even more. "So did you tell Amaia Hotaru's story and viewpoint on things Ami?"

Ami glanced over at Amaia who, while still shivering, was looking more normal now. "Yes and I told her mine as well, we've cleared the air and while I may not agree with her thoughts, given that we are marrying a steadholder, I'm sure we can work something out." Ami said.

"Is your story just as dark?" Ranma asked quietly.

"Ami glanced over to Ranma, her expression softening. "That's one of the things I love so much about you Ranma." She smiled lovingly as she reached out to gently caress her cheek." You're always more worried about those you love than yourself."

Ranma blushed but stared into Ami's eyes. "You didn't answer the question my love." She said doggedly.

Ami shook her head and smiled sadly at Ranma. "Yes I had some dark and lonely times growing up, at least until I met Makoto and Hotaru and the rest of my friends. Like Hotaru I've had a special ability since I was a young child. In addition to being told I had a genius level intelligence which alienated me growing up, I have an affinity for ice and can actually use it to attack or defend myself or others."

"Ice powers?" Sara asked a little skeptically

"Believe me, she has them!" Amaia said fervently, speaking for the first time since she came back in. "She encased everything from my knees on down in a solid block of ice!"

Ranma glanced sharply at Ami, a calculating look in her eyes. "No wonder your vehicle never has an overheating issue!" She exclaimed.

Ami blushed at Ranma's words. "Actually that's because of me having a good mechanic, but it is the reason why I never get hot, no matter how hot it is outside." She retorted

"Umm Ranma, while I don't mind you in this form, and you do look very beautiful, could you please change back?" Amaia asked quietly and almost shyly.

Ranma smiled lightly and her form shifted once more, turning her back into the Ranma they had all met the first time. "Better?" He asked confidently.

Amaia smiled widely and nodded. Hotaru blinked, coming back to the world around her and saw Amaia standing there smiling. Remembering what had happened earlier, Hotaru became angry again and a snarl ripped from her as a black aura sprang around her and a large glaive suddenly appeared in her hands.

"Bitch!" She growled as she pointed the glaive at Amaia.

Sara and Amaia froze in shock while Ami gasped in horror, not wanting to see Amaia dead at Hotaru's hands. Ranma reacted instantly, stepping between Hotaru and Amaia and coated his hands in Ki as he knocked the glaive aside, then ripped it from Hotaru's hands and spun it around, placing it like a shield in front of him.

"Hold Lieutenant Tomoe!" He barked commandingly.

Hotaru stopped instantly and blinked in surprise that her weapon wasn't in her hands and her target was now blocked. Behind Ranma she saw Amaia shivering again, her arms wrapped around her middle as she crouched down on her knees. She then looked to see Ranma holding her glaive, which should have been impossible.

"How?" She asked confusedly.

Ranma actually glared at Hotaru as he stood protectively in front of Amaia. "What the hell were you thinking Hotaru?! CONTROL!" Ranma yelled at her.

"How did you take my glaive from me? That should have been impossible!" Hotaru asked in shock.

"It's not your glaive anymore Hotaru. Until you learn to control your darker side it will be my glaive, is that understood?" Ranma said almost coldly.

"But how did you take it from me? That glaive is grafted to my SOUL Ranma! It should be impossible to take it from me without killing me first!" She said to him

Ranma twisted his wrist and made the glaive disappear somewhere, while he kept up his glare. "That would explain it fighting me, but I have yet to find a weapon like that glaive that can resist me. Now then you will sit down and let Amaia explain herself without overreacting or I will take measures you won't enjoy Hotaru."

Hotaru gulped and sat heavily onto the floor at her feet, she had never seen Ranma so angry the entire time she had known him, and Ranma's temper was scary!

Ranma turned around and slowly helped Amaia to stand. "It's okay Mai, you're safe, I promise nothing bad will happen to you if I can prevent it." He whispered soothingly to her.

"We'll see if you'll still say that after I've told my secret." She said mournfully.

Ranma walked her over to a comfortable couch in his cabin and sat her down while the other girls looked on curiously or in Hotaru's case, a rather surly expression.

"Now then, I doubt your secret could be that terrible Amaia." Ranma countered.

Amaia gave him an old fashioned look, like a mother would to an errant child who just said something silly or stupid when they shouldn't have. She then looked over to the three other women in the room. "First I want to tell the three of you that I never intended to ever sleep with Ranma and intrude upon the, to me, sacred relationship that he had with the three of you. I also certainly didn't plan on, nor expect to, fall in love with Ranma as deeply as all of you had." She said.

"Then why did you say what you did earlier that hurt Ranma so much?" Hotaru growled.

Ami put a hand on Hotaru's shoulder while Amaia sighed. "Hotaru, I have always been very work oriented, and for the most part, saw myself only with a guy who was only with me and no one else. I'm also empathic, which makes it impossible for me to NOT feel the love that all of you have for one another, or the growing feelings that Ranma has for me." She replied. "Because of all that, and my 'Big Secret' I personally think it would be better if I were to stay away from this family as much as our jobs allow for."

Ranma started to look worried and all three women were now obviously concerned for their fellow woman. After all whatever her secret must be, it must be something terrible if it made her decide it was better for her to NOT be around them, or be a part of their family group.

"What is this secret you keep hinting at? Surely it can't be so bad?" Sara asked for all of them.

"All of you, I'm sure, haven't forgotten what Ranma's mother did to us." She said, and saw everyone nod, still looking a little confused and concerned for her. "Well whatever she gave me not only led to me and Ranma spending a night in bliss, but it also disabled the service mandated contraceptive implant that we're all required to have."

Ami gasped and everyone looked at her to see her shocked expression. "Amaia are you saying…." She trailed off, unable to fully voice the enormity of what the younger woman was saying.

"Yes Ami, because of what Ranma's mother did, and what the two of us ended up doing as a result, I am now currently three months pregnant." Amaia confirmed.

You're PREGNANT?!" Ranma exclaimed, looking a little faint.

"I almost killed the mother of Ranma's unborn child?! What kind of monster and freak am I?!" Hotaru cried out as she collapsed onto her side and started crying.

Before anyone could move, Amaia was next to Hotaru and gathering her in her arms and started rocking her. "Shh Hotaru, you are not a monster or a freak. You didn't know I was pregnant. If you had known I KNOW you wouldn't have attacked me, because I know you consider every new life precious." Amaia said softly.

Ranma knelt down and started to run a hand through Hotaru's hair. "Hotaru, love, you know I love you right?" Ranma asked softly.

Hotaru hiccupped and looked up at the two comforting her, and she was shocked to see Amaia there actually cradling her. "Why?" She asked softly.

Amaia smiled softly at her. "Because Ranma loves you deeply and you love him. And in a way, I too love you Hotaru Tomoe." She said softly. "How could I not come to care for any of you with how much Ranma loves all three of you, which is why I said what I did. How could I intrude upon such a beautiful thing?"

"But what about your child? They would be the heir to Ranma's steading." Sara asked.

"Amaia looked over at SGT McKay and gave her a crooked grin. "Michelle, I personally don't care about Ranma's titles or prestige or anything. None of that matters." She replied.

"It might not matter to you Amaia, but it will matter to the Graysons. And they will care a lot that you are bearing the heir to one of the newer steadings." Sara countered.

"Not if I don't say who the father is." Amaia responded.

"Unfortunately that doesn't work for Ranma Amaia. By Grayson law, he is required to notify the conclave when the knowledge of a child being conceived by a steadholder is known. So the instant we arrive on Grayson, Ranma will have to say you're pregnant with his child." Sara told her.

"She's right Amaia, I will have no choice in the matter, despite what you may wish." Ranma confirmed with a grimace.

"What will happen to me then?" Amaia asked. "And how do you know so much about Grayson laws when you're a Manticoran native Michelle?"

"What will happen to you? Well I hope you'd be willing to join our family." Sara responded. As to why I know so much….." She looked at Ranma who shrugged back at her. Sara sighed and looked at everyone. "This doesn't go further than all of you. Everyone else knows this Amaia, but I am the Crown Princess Sara McKay, posing as my cousin Michelle under guise because I love Ranma and my father doesn't approve of the idea of me being in the military, much less being in love with Ranma. Of course all this will come out at the wedding, but Daddy dearest isn't invited to the wedding so there won't be any way for him to stop it."

Amaia looked quickly over at Ranma. "You're marrying the Crown Princess?! And you want me to join your little harem?"

"We aren't a harem Amaia. Let me ask you this, do you love Ranma?" Ami asked quickly, cutting off anyone making any other comments.

"Yes of course I do!" She answered quickly almost defensively.

"And do you believe that Ranma loves you?" She asked.

Amaia hesitated and glanced over at Ranma, who was gazing at her. "I want to, God help me and save me for being a fool, but I hope and pray he does and that my senses aren't lying to me." She replied softly.

Ami moved over and hugged Amaia with a loving smile. "Now you know how Hotaru and I felt when we found out. How could we compete against a PRINCESS! What did we have to offer Ranma aside from our love?" Ami took a deep breath, then turned Amaia's face so she could look into her eyes. "The answer was nothing, but Ranma told us that our love was all he needed." She smiled and they both looked at Ranma.

"It's true Amaia, your love, Hotaru's love, Ami's love, and Sara's love are all I really need from any of you. You don't have to bring anything else into the relationship at all. Every woman who I love, and that applies to all four of you, is precious to me and I would do almost anything to ensure you live a full, content and happy and love filled life." Ranma said with a loving smile.

Amaia looked at all four as they were around her and laid a hand on her belly, beside Hotaru's head. "What about my child? I know he or she is as much Ranma's and therefore all of yours as well, but what about me and my child?"

"Well that's the interesting thing about Grayson homes and families Amaia, they are very strong, and children are raised communally in a way by the father and all of the mothers." Sara said lightly.

"That and as a steadholder our child will have a nanny even if we have the time to raise them, but because all of us are military it will be so important for us that we, as in all of us, chose a good one for our children. Also each and every one of you will end up with a personal armsman that will be watching your back at all times, aside from the obvious personal issues, until either you or your armsman dies, also our children will get personal armsmen as well. This is a fact of life for steadholders and I'm going to have no less than six to watch over me all day long." Ranma added.

"That doesn't tell me what is going to happen to me and my child Ranma." Amaia said with a little exasperation.

"Well I'm hoping that you'll be willing to join my family Amaia and let me help raise our child." Ranma told her.

Amaia blinked and looked at Ranma funny. "Ranma, are you proposing to me?" She asked.

The other women chuckled as Ranma looked sheepish.

"Yes Amaia, he is, in his own backwards way. He did the same thing to each of us, the silly man." Sara told her.

"Well if he's going to do it, he should do it correctly." Amaia said primly with a playful snort. "But you better not be asking just because I'm pregnant Ranma. I would refuse if that is the only reason! I will NOT marry just for the sake of a child having two parents!" She leveled a stern look at Ranma.

Ranma almost looked offended and angry at the suggestion while Hotaru reached up and pulled lightly on Amaia's head to get her attention. Amaia looked down at Hotaru, a questioning expression on her face.

"Amaia, if he asked you at all, it means he cares deeply and probably loves you. And he also isn't asking you to marry him, but to be married to all of us. It means you won't ever have to be alone ever again. You will ALWAYS have someone who loves you, always! Heck you're the only one of us who is NOT a combat MOS, that is a precious thing for those of us who are!" Hotaru told her.

"All of you? Does that mean all of you love me?" Amaia asked.

"If we don't love you now, I'm sure we will soon." Sara said.

"At the very least we all care deeply for you Amaia. And not because you are currently carrying Ranma's child, but because of your honesty and forth right nature and how much you DO care for Ranma." Ami told her.

"But would you have offered me a place in your family if I wasn't pregnant?" Amaia asked.

Hotaru answered by leaning up and pulling Amaia into a deep and passionate kiss while caressing her neck. As she slowly broke the kiss she smiled softly at her. "Does that somewhat answer your question Amaia?" She asked huskily.

"Umm…." Amaia trailed off, stunned by Hotaru's actions.

Hotaru looked at the rest and smiled. "I think she needs more convincing!" She said cheerfully.

"Huh?" Amaia said before first Ami, then Sara and finally Ranma came up and kissed her as Hotaru had. Then all of them looked at her and smiled and said together.

"Amaia, will you marry us?"

Amaia blinked for a few minutes as her mind slowly took in what had just happened and what they had all asked of her, then she started to laugh happily. "Yes! God save me but yes! I'll marry all of you!" She said with a happy smile.

END CHAPTER!

End Author's Notes: Wow, another chapter in a fairly short period of time. I'm already working on chapter 13 and hopefully my muse will continue to cooperate with me on getting it done like it did for chapters 11 and 12! I hope ya'll enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Not a very long one in my opinion, but it sets the stage nicely. Hehe, though I wouldn't want to be Nodoka in the next chapter that's for sure :D

Anywho, until next time, please review my works, I love to see what people honestly think of my writings.

See you in the next chapter. Chapter 13: A wedding and a Deployment!

This is Captain Dave signing off!


	18. Chapter 13

1/1 Dragoons Wild Horses: Redemption

Disclaimer: I do not own the things that I write here. Well at least not most of them. There are a couple of things that I do, but it was mostly thought up during times of massive tiredness. That which I don't own, I pay homage to those that do, and give them great respect and honor for the great works that they have done.

Chapter 13

A Wedding and a Deployment

Location: Saotome Family Residence, Planet Manticore

Date: Tuesday 20th Day, 10th Month, 3046 TY

Time: 1230 Hours Local

"So how go the wedding plans?" Nodoka asked to Ranma, Ami, Michelle and Hotaru.

"They are going well Mother." Ranma said very formally.

Nodoka threw Ranma an odd look for his formality and continued to serve everyone lunch. "Any way I can help or offer advice?" She asked, wanting to help.

"No Mother, everything is well in hand and taken care of. You don't need to do anything else for us." Hotaru said with cold formality.

Nodoka twitched, not used to hearing such a tone come out of the kind and loving young woman. "Is there something going on that I need to know about? All of you have been very quiet since you got back home three days ago, or very cold when you do speak. What would your father say Ranma?" She asked.

"If Father knew what we do, he would not be pleased either Mother." Ami said, giving Nodoka a glare.

Nodoka looked very confused now and blinked at them. "Was it something I said?" She asked.

"No Mother." Sara/Michelle said simply.

"Was it something that I did?" She asked looking at everyone now in confusion.

"Yes it was, but if you can't remember your transgression against us, then we aren't going to tell you. We're still trying to not lose our tempers over how you wronged us." Ami said formally.

"But how am I supposed to make up for however I wronged you if you don't tell me?" She asked shocked that something she had done would have angered all four of them at the same time.

"You'll have to think back and try to remember all the things that you've done to us until you figure out what could have made us so angry. And yes there is the chance that we will tell Father." Ranma informed her.

After saying that, no amount of questions, demands, even crying, from Nodoka could get a response out of any of the four. The rest of the meal passed in cold silence for the most part aside from the occasional attempt by Nodoka to either acquire knowledge or start a conversation. After the meal was finished, Ranma, Sara/Michelle, Ami and Hotaru stood up, bowed politely to Nodoka and silently left the dining room, heading for the front door.

"Where are you going? Your Father is expected to return tonight." Nodoka said, hoping to get some kind of response.

Ranma stopped just inside the dining room, behind his fiancées, and turned around slowly. "We are going out. There are several things that need to be accomplished before we leave for Grayson. We will be back in time for the welcome home dinner for Father." Ranma informed her, then spun on his heels and left the room, following his brides-to-be out of the house.

Inside the dining room Nodoka fell heavily back into her chair and started crying, all the while trying to think of what she could have done that would anger her usually forgiving son so much.

Outside the house, in the car that Ami had just opened, Ranma sat in the back seat between Sara and Hotaru, also crying. Sara and Hotaru tried to comfort him, knowing how much he was hurting because of not just his mother's reaction, but also from having just hurt his mother with their words and actions. Ami started the air car and pulled away from the estate and headed for the city, specifically the city's military hospital, where Amaia should just about be done with her appointment.

As they pulled up to the hospital, they saw Amaia standing there in a tasteful sundress, as it was quite warm still in the capital city. As soon as the car stopped, Hotaru jumped out and moved up to Amaia.

"Sit with him Amaia, he's hurting right now. We've done all we can, but I have a feeling you can do more. Please?!" Hotaru said quickly but softly.

Amaia looked worriedly at Hotaru and nodded, then strode purposefully towards the car. She sat in the back next to Ranma while Hotaru took a seat up front with Ami. As Ami began to drive off, Amaia gasped at how terrible Ranma looked. Sara gave her a pleading look and glanced worriedly at Ranma.

Amaia nodded, then reached over and pulled Ranma close to her and started stroking his hair. "Shh my love, I'm here now. Everything will be fine Ran my love. You'll see." She said softly to him.

Ranma looked at her, coming out of his funk slowly. "Mai?" He asked softly, but loud enough that the whole car heard him.

Internally Amaia sighed while she smiled softly at him. "Yes Ran. It'll be okay, I know it hurts right now, but there is no other way for her to learn. We had all agreed upon that when we discussed it on the trip home. We'll get through this like how you said, together, as a family." She said softly and lovingly.

Ranma gave her a lopsided smile and nodded slowly. "Yeah, you're right Mai, together, as a family. So what did the doctor say?"

"The doctor says that both the baby and I are fine and that the pregnancy is proceeding normally." She answered.

I'd really prefer if you stayed on Grayson after the wedding, and not come with us to Mercedes." Ranma told her.

Amaia sighed and smiled lovingly at Ranma. "Ran, beloved, we've had this discussion already." She started.

"Five times in fact." Ami said from the front.

"Right, and my answer hasn't changed any. Where ever the four of you go, I'm going with. I know I'll have the four of you to protect me and our child. And that doesn't include our armsmen either. So please, stop asking me to reconsider." She told him with a light smile.

Ranma smiled in return and bowed his head, accepting defeat on this one. "Yes dear. I'll stop asking, but it won't change how I feel about it." He replied.

"So what are we really doing today?" Hotaru asked.

"Well we've got a trunk full of invitations to either mail out or hand-deliver." Ranma responded, accepting the distraction.

"I'm al for mailing most, if not all of them Ranma." Sara said.

"I agree, but there are at least two that I think should be hand delivered. The General's and your Mother's." Ranma said to her.

"I have a question." Amaia asked suddenly.

"What is it Mai?" Ranma said.

"How have we been able to keep the fact that the Crown Princess is in our unit a secret for as long as we have? I thought for sure it would have leaked out by now." She asked.

"Well part of that is because I'm pretending to be my cousin Michelle, the other part is because my Mother is running interference so that my father doesn't find out. It hasn't been easy, but it boils down to the fact that only a dozen people know the truth at most." Sara answered.

"That doesn't fully answer why your father hasn't been asking more pointed questions." Amaia retorted.

"Oh that's a simple one right there! She's at a monastery on Grayson right now on a religious sabbatical, and while her father might be an asshole and hate the Graysons, he is a religious man and wouldn't think to intrude upon a religious sabbatical of one of his children, even if it is in a place where the technology is at the bare minimums." Ami said.

"How do you know that information?" Amaia inquired.

"Because she was the one to arrange it. The monks were very willing to help us, also they let us spend a little time there, and it is indeed a peaceful and lovely place. I look forward to being there again!" Sara answered.

"Is that where we are holding our wedding?" Amaia asked.

"Yes" Ranma said. "Before I became a steadholder and while Captain Harrington was saving the planet from those rogue pirates, I was dealing with the pirates on the ground. They had taken the entire monastery hostage and demanded that I alone come to negotiate the release of the peaceful monks and the pirate's passage off planet. I agreed because I had no choice. They tried to kill me, but well, here I am and they are all dead now, without a single monk being harmed and only some light damage to the furniture." Ranma finished, puffing with pride at his accomplishment.

Sara poked him in the ribs with a chuckle. "Which is how you earned your steadholdership along with Honor." She jibed at him.

"Well I wasn't about to let them die! Even if I don't agree or follow their faith." Ranma responded.

They continued to talk about various plans and other things as they made their way to the post office. When they arrived they all got out and entered the post office building. Ranma walked up to the clerk and smiled lightly.

"Can I help you sir?" the young woman behind the desk asked politely.

"Yes, can I get a mail cart please? I have a lot of invitations to mail out today." Ranma asked.

"Certainly sir, just give me a moment." She responded before she left for the back area. She came back out not too much later pushing a large cart. "Here you go sir." She said as she opened the side door and pushed the cart out for them.

"Thank you ma'am. We'll be back in a little with this." Ranma said politely. Everyone then turned and left the building and headed for the car. When they got there, Ami opened the trunk to reveal four large boxes of sealed, labeled and stamped envelopes. Off to the side was a fifth, much smaller, box containing a half a dozen envelopes that had no stamps on them. Together they loaded the cart with the four boxes, then brought them in to the post office.

"Wow, you weren't joking when you said you had a lot of invitations to mail out! That's going to be SOME party!" The clerk exclaimed.

Ranma, Ami, Hotaru, Sara and Amaia, looked at each other and grinned. Ranma then turned back to the clerk. "The party of the century! I'm getting married!" He informed the clerk.

"Really, wow! So whose the lucky lady?" She asked as she started to take the envelopes from them and started processing the first box's worth.

"We all are." Hotaru said simply.

"What! How?!" the clerk exclaimed in shocked surprise.

"Look at who the envelope is from." Ami said with a grin.

The clerk looked at the 'from' address and blinked before she started fanning herself with that envelope. "Wow you ladies are lucky! The most eligible and desirable bachelor in the Kingdom and you get him!"

They all grinned at her reaction. "Yes we are lucky, and very happy." Amaia said.

"Wait, I didn't hear you were even dating! That means I'm the first one to hear about this! This is the biggest news to hit the Kingdom in YEARS!" She exclaimed excitedly.

Ranma chuckled as he put the last box on the counter. "As long as all these invitations get mailed out so that our guests will be able to get theirs." He told her.

"Of course My Lord! Consider them all mailed out!" She said as she started processing them as fast as her system allowed for.

"Thank you. We'll leave you to this; we have a handful to personally deliver." Ranma said.

"Have fun My Lord and congratulations to all of you." She replied as they left, she then punched a code in the com next to her.

"Yes?" came the reply.

"I'm going to need lots of help. I think I've got about two thousand wedding invitations that Lord Saotome just dropped off." She told the person on the other end.

"Two THOUSAND?! You've got to be pulling my leg, no way the Colonel just dropped off wedding invites." A male voice said clearly.

"Yea well they're sitting here clear as day, and his four fiancées looked lovely and very happy." She informed him.

"All right, I'll send up three to help. Wow, he's finally getting married." He said before the com clicked off.

In the car, Ranma was again in the back, but this time flanked by Ami and Amaia, while Sara drove and Hotaru sat up front.

"So where to first?" Sara asked as she drove, blatantly ignoring the cuddling trio in the back.

"If you know where the General lives, we could stop there first to deliver his invite." Ranma said.

"Not a problem, I know right where Uncle Daffyd lives." She said cheerfully as she started driving there.

"It's not fair." Hotaru said with a cute pout.

"What isn't fair Hotaru?" Amaia asked, concerned as she felt her co-fiancée was upset.

"I want to sit back there and cuddle with all three of you." She whined.

"But there isn't another seat back here love." Ranma said soothingly.

"Yes there is! I can sit in _your_ lap Ranma." Hotaru said sweetly.

Ranma got a silly grin on his face when he remembered that Hotaru was wearing a skirt today. Sara glanced over at Hotaru to see her raise her skirt up enough to reveal that she wasn't wearing underwear today. In the back seat Amaia grinned and Ami sighed.

"Unfortunately as enjoyable as that would be, there aren't enough seat belts Hotaru, otherwise I would love for you to be back here." Ami said.

"Then Ranma would just have to hold me really tightly." She countered, grinning and winking at Sara who rolled her eyes.

"How about we swap on the way to the Palace?" Ami countered.

"Fine, I can take a hint Ami." Hotaru said, turning around enough to stick her tongue out at her.

"I think that would be a grand idea." Amaia said with an almost devilish grin. "In fact, I'll drive us to the Palace so that Sara and Hotaru can cuddle with Ranma."

Ami looked over at Amaia, who winked at her. Ami grinned and she snuggled closer to Ranma and started to let her hands roam over her fiancé's body, causing him to gasp in pleasure.

"Sounds like a plan, far be it for us to deny our sisters the _pleasure_ of being next to our man." Ami said almost seductively.

All of the women either chuckled or giggled while Ranma just enjoyed the company of the women that love him.

When they arrived at the modest two story house that General McKay lived in, Sara and Hotaru stepped out first, both looking a little flush while Hotaru was breathing a bit heavily. Amaia was the first to step out of the back and she was both flush, but also looked satisfied. From the other side, Ami stepped out, fixing her wrinkled shirt and re-straightening her hair, looking flush and satisfied with a gleam in her eyes.

"Ran-honey, you need to get out, we're here." Amaia said sweetly into the car.

Ranma slowly got out of the car on Amaia's side, looking a little dazed, yet satisfied and with a big grin on his face. "Umm, where are we again?" He asked, still a little out of it.

Sara walked up to Ranma and whispered in his hear. "We're at my Uncle Daffyd's house love."

Ranma blinked a couple of times, then straightened himself, wanting to make a good impression to his future in-laws, before he moved to get the invitation for his commanding general.

Once they had the envelope, all five walked up to the front door and Sara politely knocked on the door.

"Don't forget, you're still Michelle until the wedding." Ami whispered. Sara nodded just before the door opened, revealing a tall slender young man wearing jeans and a t-shirt that said, 'Keep Calm and Roll Pods' on it.

"Can I help you?" He asked politely.

"I'm shocked Cousin Michael that you don't recognize me!" Sara exclaimed in mock anger.

"Huh? Who are you? You aren't an ex of mine or my older sister's are you?" He asked confusedly.

"No you pompous ass! It's me, your cousin! Michelle!" Sara said with a growl.

"Holy! I'm sorry Michelle, I didn't recognize you! Come on in! I'll let Dad know you're here." He said as he stepped aside to let them in.

"Thanks cousin." Sara said with a smile. "I'll just take my friends to the living room while you get Uncle Daffyd." She led them into the house while her cousin went looking for his father. All of them chuckled as they realized he wasn't part of the deception they had been running.

They'd been sitting together on one couch when General McKay walked in with his wife and son. The two men just stared at the picture before them. Ranma sat in the center of the couch, Sara sat on the floor between his legs, Hotaru and Amaia sat on either side of him and Ami laid across all three of the couch sitters laps with her head in Amaia's lap, and her hair being stroked by her, almost asleep.

"Hello sir." Ranma said, waving at his commander with a smile. "I'd stand to greet you but I'm a bit tied down at the moment."

The wide awake women chuckled while Ami smiled lazily. "I like that idea; we should tie him up sometime." She said dreamily.

The two men's jaws dropped further at her words while Eli started to laugh loudly, finding the whole thing funny. Her laughing woke Ami up fully and she gasped at seeing her general staring, slack jawed, at her. She tried to sit up, but found herself restrained by the three people whose laps she was laying on.

"It's okay, don't bother moving, any of you. That looks very comfortable." Eli said as she walked up to them. "I am Eliagh McKay, it's a pleasure to finally meet some of Daffyd's co-workers who aren't all stiff and formal when they come here. That must be your doing Michelle."

Sara looked up at her aunt with a wide smile. "Of course Aunty, I know how much formality among family annoys you." She replied. "Besides, this is comfy." She leaned more into Ranma, laying her head close to Ami's lap.

Daffyd cleared his throat and moved to a love seat, pulling his wife down into his lap as he smiled. "Well when I said I'd love to see you bond well with your unit, I didn't expect something like THIS Ranma." He said with a chuckle as his son shook himself and moved to sit in a chair.

"Neither did I sir, but I'm not complaining one bit!" He said.

"Wise man." Hotaru said with a light grin as she caressed his cheek. "Which is why we love you."

"So what positions do all of you hold?" Michael asked curiously.

"Michael Ryan McKay! What have I told you about business during family time?!" His mother scolded him.

Sara laughed and waved a hand as Michael cringed away from his irate mother. "It's okay Aunty, we don't mind." She then turned to her cousin with a grin. "Well I'm sure you know what unit our beloved commands. I'm a part of his 'personal' guard as a mechwarrior and a sergeant no less! Amaia here is our battalion assistant S-2. Ami is Delta company's commander and Hotaru is a helicopter pilot." She informed him.

Eli snorted while Michael looked impressed. "Sir, I don't know how you manage to juggle your relationships; I have trouble just keeping one! You are very lucky!" He said.

"Yeah I know I'm lucky. Have faith though, you'll find the one meant for you eventually." Ranma said with a large grin.

"So what brings all of you here today?" Daffyd asked them.

"Oh only to give you this Uncle Daffyd." Sara said, holding up the invitation envelope.

"Is that what I think it is?" Eli asked, getting off of Daffyd's lap and moving up to take the envelope.

"Depends on what you think it is Aunty." Sara responded with a grin.

"Cheeky girl." Eli muttered playfully as she retook her seat and opened the envelope. Inside was a simple white card that she slowly pulled out and read aloud. "You are cordially invited to the wedding of Ranma Saotome to the loves of his life on the Fifteenth day of First month in the Terran Year of Thirty Forty-Seven at the Monastery of Ludwigstein on Grayson. The ceremony will start at 1030 hours and will include aspects of both the Shinto and Church of Humanity, Unchained."

Eli, Daffyd and Michael blinked and looked over at the five on the couch. Eli was the first to gather her wits about her.

"Ranma, son, you're marrying all FOUR of these ladies?" She asked slowly, not fully comprehending it all yet.

Ranma nodded slowly. "Yes Aunty, all four, I couldn't live without them being at my side as long as they'll have me." He answered.

"Our oaths do say till death do us part my love." Amaia said in a slightly chiding fashion.

Before anyone else could do anything more, four blurs coalesced themselves into four young children who instantly latched onto Sara or Ami or Ranma or Hotaru, Amaia, being just far enough from the door to be safe. The children all started to talk excitedly and rapidly, both making statements and asking a thousand questions, yet barely able to be understood as they talked so fast and loud. Eli tried to calm her quartet down, but to no avail. Daffyd and Michael started laughing, pleased to see someone else getting 'The Treatment' from the quartet. The four women tried to follow each child's statements and questions but it was almost impossible. Ranma's eyebrow started to twitch as it started to become too much for him.

Ranma slowly took a deep breath, then added his Ki to his voice before he spoke. "At Ease!" he said calmly, yet powerfully.

The reactions were instantaneous. Ranma's loves all became very still. Eli, Daffyd and Michael sat up straighter and stopped talking or laughing. The four kids all got off of everyone almost as fast as they appeared and went to parade rest before Ranma, staring straight ahead.

"Well I'll be damned, I thought only Dad or Mom could get such a reaction out of them." Michael said in wonder.

Ranma sighed in relief. "Much better, please don't do that again kids. I've seen some terrible things, and only the fact that you didn't present a threat as you came flying at us kept me from accidently hurting one of you. Please be more careful when approaching veterans who you don't know yet." Ranma lightly scolded them.

"Yes Sir!"

"Won't happen again Sir!"  
"We'll be more careful Sir!"

"Sorry if we triggered something Sir!"

"How did you do that?" Eli asked in wonder as her four youngest stayed at parade rest in the center of the room.

"A little bit of Ki in the voice can do wonderful things." Ranma answered. "All right kids, I understand you're excited that your cousin is getting married to me, just go easy on us okay?"

"Uh huh!" "Sure!" "No problem!" "Does that mean you're like our new cousin/uncle/big brother type person?" They all said quickly.

Ranma chuckled and smiled. "Yeah it does, and relax, just no tackling unless you want a martial arts lesson the hard way."

The four cheered and moved to sit all around Sara and the others, filling up the couch. Daffyd shook his head in wonder and amusement while his wife stared in shock.

"I told you he was special Eli. This right here proves it." He said to her.

"Yeah you were right, this time. Still, now that you've dropped this bombshell, what are the five of you planning?" Eli asked.

"Well Aunty, we were kind of hoping if you or Uncle Daffyd could clear the way for us to see Aunty Natsumi today so we can give her, her and Cousin William their invites." Sara said a little hesitantly.

Daffyd grinned and nodded as he stood, picking is wife up then setting her down on the love seat. "Not a problem Michelle, I take it that Samual isn't being invited?"

"What 'Uncle' Samual doesn't know, he can't stop." Sara said, making her Father's name almost a curse.

Daffyd nodded in understanding as he moved to the com unit nearby. "I can understand that. I still don't understand why he hates you so much Ranma." Daffyd said as he approached the com.

"I've got my theories, but I'm having my wonderful S-2 section look into it." Ranma said looking fondly at Amaia, who blushed briefly.

"We haven't found anything concrete yet, but we have several leads sir." Amaia said demurely.

"that's good to know that you're using your assets wisely Ranma." Eli said while Daffyd punched in a long com code.

"Palace Security, Arthur speaking, oh hi My Lord, how can I help you today?" The man on the other end said as he recognized Daffyd's face.

"Afternoon Arthur, do you think I can squeeze a couple of people in to meet Her Majesty?" He asked.

"I don't know My Lord, is this something official that will require 'Him' as well?" Arthur responded.

"Not at all, in fact if he can be busy for oh, a half an hour before to an hour after our time block that would be much appreciated." Daffyd informed him.

"How much time do you need with Her Majesty?" He asked with a small sigh.

Daffyd looked over at Sara who mouthed 'one hour' at him. He looked back at the com with a sigh. "Is one hour possible?"

"That might be tight my Lord, she has a meeting with the Grayson Ambassador today about something, you'd be cutting it close if they showed up in thirty minutes, but I can swing both of those, I've got about five or six small but important seeming things for 'Him' to take care of that'll keep him busy for hours." Arthur said with a wink.

"No problem then Arthur, I'll get them moving right now." Daffyd said with a grin.

"Can I know who to expect so I can pre-clear them with the PSG?" Arthur said stopping Daffyd from getting off.

"Is the line un-recorded?" Daffyd asked.

Arthur punched a couple of buttons then nodded to Daffyd.

"It's Lieutenant Colonel Ranma Saotome and four others, all female." Daffyd said quickly.

"I see why you want 'Him' busy! All right, I'll make it happen my Lord." Arthur said then cut the connection.

Daffyd looked over at them and grinned. "I'd get going kids, you don't want to keep Her Majesty waiting." He said.

The five blinked then started to scramble to get up off the couch.

"Thank you Uncle Daffyd!" Sara said as she kissed him on the cheek as she passed him. Each of the other women did the same while Ranma shook his hand.

As they left the house, Amaia took the keys and opened the car up for them. She and Ami got in the front while Hotaru and Sara climbed into the back with Ranma.

As they started to drive off, Hotaru turned and kissed Ranma deeply and passionately while she grabbed one of his hands and put it under her skirt. Ranma's eyes widened at what he both found and didn't find under that skirt, while Sara got busy undoing his pants.

"Ranma." Hotaru moaned huskily. "I want you right now, and I don't care who knows. Take me now!"

Twenty-five minutes later, as they pulled up to the main gate to the Palace, Hotaru was resettling her skirt, flushed yet satisfied, while the other three women were all bright red, but only Amaia appeared unaffected.

"Wow…." Sara breathed out as she stared at Hotaru and Ranma in amazement.

"How many?" Ami asked Hotaru breathlessly as they approached the guards.

"Five!" Hotaru squeaked as she leaned over and kissed Ranma's cheek. "Thank you love, you were great."

"Your welcome?" Ranma said a little dazed still. "I didn't really do a lot."

"You did enough love. I look forward to when you can properly do that." Hotaru whispered, causing Ranma to blush a little.

"Guards." Amaia said a little mechanically, her voice acting like cold water on the rest of the car. As she rolled down the window she passed over the ID cards of everyone in the car to the waiting guard.

"Thank you Ma'am." He said as he took them and put them into the hand held scanner one at a time. When he finished, he handed them back and looked back at Ranma. "The way is cleared for you to your meeting with Her Majesty Sir Saotome."

"Thank you Sergeant, we'll try to get out of your hair as quickly as possible." Ranma told him.

"It's not a problem Sir. We'll try to run as much interference as we can." He replied.

"Thank you again. Have a good day Sergeant." Ranma told him.

"Thank you Sir." He replied as he waved the car into the palace.

Amaia drove into the palace complex and moved the car to the special VIP parking area where she stopped the vehicle. They all got out of the car, Hotaru a little more tenderly than the rest, and they made their way towards the next checkpoint. When they got there the guard took one look at them and signed briefly.

"Come on, let's get you guys to the latrine, all of you look like you just had sex, and that's probably the last thing the Queen needs to see right now." The captain of the guard said.

"Sure thing Captain, lead the way." Ranma said as they all fought down their blushes.

When they got to the nearby latrine, each woman kissed Ranma before entering the female latrine, and then Ranma entered the male side to clean himself up with a sigh. The Captain waited outside both and sighed, wishing she got to be as lucky as those four women were. Inside the female latrine they were freshening up. Hotaru taking the longest because her hair was crazy from the ride over to the palace. As the others waited for her to be finished and were watching her, Amaia gasped.

"What is it Amaia?" Ami asked, concerned for her soon to be sister, fearing it involved the baby.

Amaia spun to Sara, an almost look of panic on her face. "Quick get some toilet paper or a paper towel, Hotaru is leaking!" She said rapidly.

Sara confusedly got what Amaia was asking for while Ami looked sharply at Hotaru, only to see something glisten on her inner thigh, just above the knee and below the skirt.

"How does she NOT feel that?!" Ami asked Amaia in a harsh whisper.

"She's still on a euphoric high. I'd be surprised if she was completely aware of her surroundings right now. All she knows is that she doesn't look her best and that it would upset Ranma, and THAT is what matters most to her." Amaia told her.

"How do you know that?" Sara asked as she handed some toilet paper to Amaia, having listened to the conversation.

"Because I was the same way for three hours after our time together." Amaia said matter of factly as she moved up and touched Hotaru's shoulder.

"Oh, what's wrong Amaia?" Hotaru asked as she saw the concern on Amaia's face.

"You're leaking Hotaru-dear." Amaia told her. "I'm going to clean you up. Let Ami take care of your hair, okay?"

"Eepp! I didn't even feel that!" Hotaru exclaimed, embarrassed by what Amaia was doing.

"It's okay, we'll take care of you." Ami said soothingly.

"Spread your legs a little Hotaru, we don't need Her Majesty seeing you like this." Amaia said softly.

Hotaru obediently widened her legs and heard Amaia tsk from under her. "Don't you dare spread your legs or do anything to expose yourself before Her Majesty please Hotaru." Amaia ordered her.

Hotaru blushed and very meekly said. "Yes Ma'am."

"And for God's sake, don't stare at Ranma like a love struck, sex crazed fool while we're with her, it would embarrass her and Ranma." She said.

"Yes Ma'am."

"And most importantly, be yourself, but mind your words, do you understand?" Amaia asked.

"Yes Ma'am." Hotaru said meekly.

Amaia finished then stood up and looked Hotaru over, smiling and nodding at how she looked. "Good, but there is one last thing to remember." She said.

"What is that Ma'am?" Hotaru asked, a little frightened now as the reality that she was about to meet her Monarch for the very first time in person, with no other formality involved.

"That Ranma, Ami, Sara and I love you very much and not even the Queen herself can take us away from you." Amaia said lovingly, yet firmly, and then she kissed Hotaru softly yet lovingly.

Hotaru melted into the kiss a little, giving in to the euphoric feeling still coursing through her body. Amaia slowly broke the kiss and smiled at Hotaru's blissful expression.

"Control yourself Hotaru, you can do it." Amaia said.

Hotaru shook herself and focused on Amaia. "Thank you Mai." She said, using Ranma's name for her, causing Amaia to blush. "It means a lot to know that, especially from you."

"You're welcome. Now then let's go get our husband to be and go meet our Queen. Oh and remind me later to tell you all about my name." Amaia said as she turned to leave.

Hotaru came up behind her and whispered in her ear before passing her. "Yes Mistress."

Amaia shuddered at hearing those words and feeling Hotaru's breath against her ear, and for the life of her she didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Outside the latrine Ranma was chatting with the captain, having served with her when she had been a young second lieutenant and he had been a battalion S-3 officer. They both stopped talking when the door to the female latrine opened and the first one to come out was Hotaru. As soon as she appeared, Ranma's jaw dropped in shock as he saw how beautiful his bride to be looked right then. The captain looked from Hotaru to Ranma, then back to see the rest of Ranma's fiancées come out, leaving the poor man in an even larger state of shock from beauty. The captain chuckled then reached over with one white gloved hand to shut Ranma's mouth with a sharp click, causing the four other women to giggle at his expression. Sara suddenly got a calculating expression and went up to Ranma and stared at him for several seconds. Ranma blinked slowly, as if coming awake from a deep sleep. Sara took advantage of this state to wrap her arms around Ranma's neck and then kissed him deeply and passionately.

The guard captain flipped out inside. She knew exactly who was playing tonsil hockey with Ranma, and if the King should have seen what was going on, all hell would break loose! The captain cleared her throat rather loudly to get the kissing pair's attention.

Sara slowly broke the kiss and turned slowly to look at the captain with an evil eye while Ranma rapidly recovered.

"Yes Captain?" Sara asked with all the power and authority of being second in line for the throne had taught her.

The captain snapped to attention and stared straight ahead of her. "Begging the Lieutenant Colonel and his guest's attention but Her Majesty _is_ waiting." She said formally.

Before Sara could respond, Ranma laid a hand on her shoulder. "Thank you Captain, please lead the way, I believe we are ready now." He said.

"As the Colonel desires. Please follow me." She said before she turned around and led them deeper into the castle.

As they started walking, Sara glared at the captain and looked ready to say something until she saw Ranma shake his head. Sara sighed but nodded, holding back for the time being.

As they neared a rather plain and simple door, Sara gasped as she saw it. Ranma glanced sharply at her, worried about her, but Sara only shook her head. Ranma turned back around as the captain knocked on the old fashioned unpowered door. At hearing a muffled enter the captain opened the door, and then waved the party through as she stepped aside.

As the group entered they saw that the room was sparsely, yet comfortably furnished. In one of the several overstuffed easy chairs sat Queen Natsumi McKay, who was rising to greet them. As the door shut behind them the Queen finally spoke.

"Ranma, my dear friend, how are you doing? How is the training going?" She asked as she came up and hugged Ranma.

"Hello Natsumi-chan, I'm doing well and our training has us far ahead of schedule." Ranma responded, hugging her back.

"That's great news! Now then, I know one of your companions, but please, introduce me to the others." Natsumi suggested to him.

"Of course Natsumi-chan. This is my fiancée Ami Mizuno. This is my other fiancée Hotaru Tomoe, and this is my other fiancée Amaia Stohler" Ranma said, pointing to each woman in turn.

Natsumi smiled warmly at each of them, and then turned to Sara. "And what about you, oh daughter mine? Are you one of the Wild Horse's mares as well?" She asked causing Sara to blush and the other four to look worriedly about.

"Yes Mother, I am, and proudly so!" Sara said boldly to her mother.

"Good, I'm glad you're happy then." Natsumi said with a big smile as she looked at the others. "Oh don't worry, I know all about the grand deception being played against my husband. However I must warn you that the deception is starting to wear thin. He is beginning to suspect something is going on, and he has been tempted to make inquiries more often now."

"That isn't good. The abbot can only cover for us so much before that idea looks threadbare. Can we hold him off till after the new year?" Ranma asked seriously.

"I'm afraid not Ranma. He'll want to see Sara for Christmas this year. He was angry that she wasn't here last year." Natsumi informed them.

"That's not fair Mother!" Sara complained. "I want to spend Christmas with my soon-to-be-husband and my sisters!"

Natsumi blinked, and then narrowed her eyes at Sara. "What did you just say?" She asked.

"Shit." Sara muttered.

"What is going on Ranma? Explain quickly." Natsumi almost ordered.

Ranma calmly reached into Sara's purse and drew out the envelope and passed it to Natsumi. "It's all explained in here Natsumi." He answered.

Natsumi slowly took the envelope and opened it. She then read the little card inside very carefully. When she finished her eyes were wide and she glanced up at everyone. "That soon?! Couldn't you wait?" She asked almost plaintively.

"There are…..other….factors that have accelerated our time frame Natsumi. Ones we can't control. As is, that date was as late as we could make it." Ranma told her.

"What factors? Doesn't the mother of the bride have a say?" Natsumi begged almost.

"If I asked all my soon to be mothers-in-law then the wedding wouldn't happen for another year and I refuse to allow that to happen." Ranma stated formally.

"That still doesn't answer the question of what factors you're talking about." Natsumi growled, starting to get annoyed with Ranma.

Amaia looked at the Queen then over to Ranma, and sighed. "Ran, its okay, you can tell you." She said softly.

Ranma broke from his staring contest with the Queen to look at Amaia, concern and worry for her in his eyes. "Are you sure my love? She can't compel me." He said.

Natsumi bristled, her family's famous temper coming to the forefront at his words. Amaia nodded with a light smile.

"Yes dear, its okay. If I can't trust Her Majesty with this little secret when she's been hiding our lovely Sara from others for us, then who else could we trust?" Amaia said.

Natsumi's fury stopped cold as she glanced at Amaia in curiosity now. "What secret? What could be so earth shattering from you to push up a wedding so fast?" She asked.

Ranma cleared his throat, attracting Natsumi's attention again. "Due to some meddling by my mother, Amaia is currently three and a half months pregnant with my child." Ranma stated plainly. "That is why the wedding is being moved up. Because no child of mine will be born out of wedlock! Especially when I love the mother more than my own life!"

"She's pregnant!?" Natsumi exclaimed. "Are all of you pregnant?" She asked, semi-fearful of the answer.

"No mother, only Amaia is. Our time will come later, life after the deployment. Until then we all are supporting Amaia." Sara said for the group.

"What did Nodoka do? Does your family know yet?" Natsumi asked.

"I'm not willing to tell you what my mother did to bring this about." Ranma said almost coldly, causing several people to wince.

"After we were done here Your Majesty, we were heading to my parents to give them the news." Amaia said lightly.

"I see." Natusmi said, and then sighed. "You must think terribly of me after seeing the last few minutes. It's just all moving so fast Ranma. Did you know I still remember a young thirteen year old Ranma who cheerfully beat two deadly assassins into the ground, then looked at me and called me his beautiful Natsumi-neechan in front of thousands of people and at least thirty video cameras? It's just so difficult to reconcile that spunky young man with the hardened veteran before me." She chuckled wryly. "Or the fact that he's marrying my little girl and is going to be a father in his own right." Natsumi started crying slowly and silently.

Everyone became deeply concerned as the Queen quietly broke down before them. Ranma then moved closer and touched her shoulder lightly. His touch caused the dam to burst and Natsumi wrapped her arms tightly around Ranma, crying and sobbing as she buried her face in his chest.

"Why?!" She cried. "Why couldn't you have been born a couple of decades earlier? Why couldn't you have been my White Knight, my love, my husband and the father of my children? Why?!"

The other women aside from Amaia blinked in shock, especially Sara, who had no idea her mother's feelings ran so deep. Amaia moved to join Ranma in hugging the Queen as she could feel the pain rolling out of the woman. Ranma just hugged her and crooned softly to her, trying to calm her down.

Sara moved over and knelt next to her mother. "I had no idea you loved Ranma so deeply mother." She said softly.

"How could you?" Ami asked softly. "She had to hide her feelings. First because she was already married, second because Ranma had been underage at the time, and third, by the time it might have become feasible, Ranma had become a Steadholder, which invalidated his ability to marry her because of the constitutional requirement that the crown marry a commoner." Ami explained.

"Yes damnit, it's all true! And then you fell for the same charm I had Sara. And how could I compete with that?! I was the Crown, the Queen! The beloved and revered older sister! I didn't have a snow flake's chance in hell. So I left the field of play and remained as I had always been." Natsumi said bitterly. "At least that way I still had some contact, even if it wasn't what my heart and body cried out for."

Ranma looked at all of the women he'd come to love, and was getting ready to marry, with a pleading look for some space. They all nodded and moved to the far side of the room, where they started to talk in heated yet hushed tones so as not to disturb the two old friends.

Ranma reached down and tilted Natusmi's face up to see his eyes. "It's all true Natsumi, but there is something you need to know from me." He said softly to her.

"What is it Ranma-kun? What could be more earth shattering than finding out the mother of your fiancée wants to be your fiancée with her?" Natsumi asked almost bitterly.

Ranam leaned down and whispered huskily in her ear. "The fact that this hardened veteran has always cared more deeply for his Natsumi-neechan than is advisable." Ranma then smiled lightly.

"Whammph?!" Natsumi almost yelled as she turned to look incredulously at Ranma, also giving him the chance to kiss her properly. Natsumi gasped around the kiss, giving Ranma the chance to deepen it further before he very slowly drew away from her.

"What? Why?" Natsumi asked in confusion.

"Na-chan, I've loved you since the day that I rescued you from assassins. Only two things have ever stopped me from telling you. First, you're my monarch. Second; you were still married." Ranma told her softly.

"And if I wasn't married? Or wasn't the Queen?" Natsumi asked fearful of the answer.

"The in just under three months I would have been marrying five beautiful women which just happen to have a mother/daughter pair as well." Ranma informed her.

"Are you serious? You aren't just saying it to make me feel better?" Natsumi asked skeptical of his answer.

Ranma glanced and saw that none of the other women he loved were looking so he took the chance and kissed Natsumi again, this time deeply and passionately. The kind of kiss that tells a woman that 'not only do I love you, but I want to take you right here and now and only the circumstances around us are preventing me'

At the other side of the room Amaia sighed both in resignation and happily. The others looked at her and saw her glancing at Ranma and the Queen. They all subtly glanced that direction and saw the pair kissing like any of them would have kissed Ranma. Each of them also sighed and then looked back at each other.

"I give it a ninety percent chance that if she somehow ends up single, that she'll be joining us as one of Ranma's wives." Ami said quietly.

The others nodded in agreement reluctantly. Amaia glanced at them then sighed and spoke up. "It won't be so bad if it does happen. Think of it this way, all of you accepted me because I wasn't combat arms, now picture if she joins us, she isn't even military at all, we'll have someone ALL of us can lean on, AND someone who will be able to stay at home with our children. Also its obvious that she loves him and he, her. In fact I'd hazard that Her Majesty is the first woman he ever fell in love with."

Back with the kissing couple Natsumi moaned into the kiss then whimpered as Ranma slowly pulled away. "Does that answer your question Natsumi-koi?" He asked huskily.

"Yes" She whispered. "God help me, but I want you badly now Ranma." 

"I know, but we can't, even if we both want to, for just the reasons that were made earlier." He said to her.

She nodded and slowly pulled out of Ranma's embrace. "You take good care of my daughter love, okay?" She said.

"I promise you I will do everything I can to keep her happy Na-chan." Ranma swore.

"Sara!" Natsumi called out startling the four women.

"Yes Mother?" She responded hesitantly, afraid that she and her sisters-to-be had been caught.

"You better take good care of Ranma, that goes for all of you, or else, as God as my witness I WILL find a way to come and take him for my own to make sure such a wonderful man is properly cared for." Natsumi threatened.

Amaia laid a hand n Hotaru's shoulder as the younger girl bristled at the threat, then looked over at her Queen challengingly. "Your Majesty, your welcome to try but I know you won't succeed. Our love for Ranma and his for us is too strong to be broken by anybody, even by his first true love of his life." Amaia stated.

Natsumi searched each and every face and nodded. "Good, then instead I hope to someday be granted the ability to join the four of you."

"Umm, that would be really weird and awkward mother." Sara said.

"It might be love, but would you deny her the chance at real love just because it made you uncomfortable?" Ami asked softly.

Sara bowed her head and shook it slowly. "No, I couldn't do that to Mother, not after finally hearing at least some of the truth." She said.

Natsumi smiled at her daughter. "Thank you Sara." She took a deep breath then looked at everyone. "All of you should get going soon. I don't know when Samual will be done doing the make work given him, and I'd rather you not get caught by him."

"Of course Your Majesty." Amaia said. "We do have one final stop for the day before we go home."

Natsumi came up and hugged each and every one of them. "I'll be at the wedding and I'll bring William with me, until then be safe and please stay out of trouble."

"We'll try mother." Sara said as they slowly left. "I love you mom."

"I love you too baby. Take good care of Ranma for me." She said.

"We will Your Majesty, I promise." Hotaru said as Ranma opened the door and they left the Queen of Manticore alone. The captain was waiting for them outside as they stepped out. She motioned for them to follow her.

"Quickly now. Somehow His Majesty found out you were somewhere on the grounds and he's hunting you down Colonel. We need to get the five of you out of here now!" She said hurriedly.

"Then lead the way and hope we can avoid him." Ranma said.

The captain nodded and led the way through a twisting set of passages that came out almost right next to their car. As they got in and started to drive off, she disappeared back into the hidden passage. Right as they left the VIP parking area His Majesty passed by.

"Who is that leaving the VIP area?" He asked a nearby servant.

The servant peered at the car and was tempted to lie, but chose not to because an irate King for being lied to was worse than an irate King because his target escaped.

"I believe, Your Majesty, that the car belongs to the Saotome family, though which member is driving it I can't tell you for certain." He informed the King.

The King grabbed the guard following him and pulled her close. "Call the gate! I want that car stopped and the people detained. I want to have a talk with Saotome!" He ordered.

"Sire? I'll try but it might not work." She cautioned.

The guard laced the call to security command stating that the King wanted the Saotome vehicle stopped and detained and the people held until he could ask them questions. She then listened to her ear bug as command reported that it would be impossible to safely stop the vehicle without force of arms and the vehicle and its occupants had done nothing to warrant such an action. The guard winced as she figured the King would NOT be happy to hear that.

"Your Majesty, Security Central reports that the only way to stop that vehicle would be through force of arms. Also Central reports that neither the vehicle nor its occupants have done anything to warrant such a use." The guard reported to the King.

"DAMNIT! You win this round Saotome, but I'll get you yet!" The King ranted.

Location:

Monastery Ludwigstein, Planet Grayson

Date:

Friday 15th Day, 1st Month 3047 Terran Year

Time:

0800 Hours Local

Sunlight streamed through the crystoplast panes of the environmental dome that covered the grand monastery and its surrounding fields. In those fields grew several different crops, each lovingly cared for by members of an old monastic order. The largest and most important crops to the monastery were its hops and barely.

The bare, grey granite walls of the ancient building were decorated with bright colors and pennants flew from the tops of the towers. Above the ancient gate house flew three flags, each bearing a different insignia.

One bore the coat of arms of the Protector of Grayson, the effective king of the planet. Another bore the Saotome family crest that had the addition of a mech behind the crossed sword and rifle. The last flag bore the Royal Crest of the Queen of Manticore.

Other flags from other nobles or steadholders, dotted the large defensive wall that surrounded the monastery, each one representing the person or family that was present at the event. Inside the monastery's main building, people were dressed in their finest clothes and were talking about all manner of things. Almost half the guests were in some type of uniform, from either the Royal Manticoran Army, Marines or Navy, or the Grayson Space Navy or Grayson Army.

Of the civilians present they were gathered into two distinct knots primarily. The first knot was gathered near the Queen, while the second, and larger, knot was gathered around the Protector. Some people intermingled, like the Saotomes.

In fact a lot of people walked up to Ranma, congratulating him. Most of the steadholders that were there were a little uncomfortable talking with him, mostly because everyone on Grayson knew about Rama's talent. One of the constant questions was who he was getting married to. No one knew still, despite all the speculation. Aside from the groom, his party and the bridal party, the only people who knew the whole story was the Queen and the Protector.

Despite the attempts of various nobles on both sides, eventually Queen Natsumi and Protector Allen were able to meet face to face. This, of course, happened near the sacred precincts of the groom himself.

"Your Majesty, Your Grace, thank you both for attending." Ranma said as he bowed politely.

Natsumi just smiled softly while Allen waved it off. "Ranma, I would have been remiss if I didn't attend the wedding of one of my newest steadholders. The only thing I have to say is you've been remarkably capable of keeping it a secret as to who you are going to marry." Allen said cheerfully.

"Thank you Your Grace. It hasn't been easy, especially when word got out that I was getting married!" Ranma said.

"So who is walking each of them down?" Natsumi asked curiously.

Ranma grinned at her. "Ami's father was able to take his time away from digging up the past to walk her, Haruka is doing the honors for Hotaru, and General McKay is walking Sara down." Ranma told them.

"What about Amaia?" Allen asked raising an eyebrow.

Ranma's expression darkened briefly before he smiled widely. "Due to circumstances my own Father will be escorting her." Ranma said.

"Your father? But why?" Allen asked only to catch Natsumi shaking her head. "Nevermind, tell me another time, this is supposed to be a _happy_ occasion."

"Thank you Your Grace. And you'll find the maid of honor very appropriate Your Majesty." Ranma said.

"Oh? Who is it?" Natsumi asked, curiosity sparked.

"That." Ranma said then smirked almost evilly. "Is a secret."

Natsumi and Allen both gave Ranma an evil glare. "Bad things can happen to officers who pull stunts like that on their monarch." Natsumi threatened dangerously.

"Something already has." Ranma said, sobering up quickly.

Natsumi and Allen looked a little alarmed at Ranma's serious expression and words. "What's happened Ranma?" Allen almost demanded.

"The latest intelligence came in two days ago from Mercedes. These Ghost Bears are gearing up to invade another planet of ours. Our deployment time table just got moved up, we deploy in nine days." Ranma informed them both.

"Nine DAYS!?" Natsumi exclaimed loudly, causing several people to glance at the group, then glanced away quickly when she started glaring at them.

"Nature of the job Your Majesty, we'll be fine." Ranma said soothingly.

Natsumi grumbled and looked like she was going to argue but held off at the last second. Allen grimaced, not liking where all of this looked to be heading. Ranma looked between them and gave them a wry smile, then leaned close to them.

"Would you relax please? We're going to honeymoon on Mersedes between raids." Ranma whispered. "Besides I want you two in the right frame of mind for our surprise announcement at the reception."

The two rulers looked at each other then at Ranma carefully.

"We aren't going to regret this announcement are we?" Natsumi asked.

"This won't be anything like the issue you ended up creating with your Commander's Own company is it?" Allen asked carefully.

Ranma grinned evilly at them. "Nope not one bit." He said cheerfully, then bowed politely to his two rulers and walked off to greet other guests.

Outside the bridal chamber stood a distraught Nodoka Saotome arguing with a very stern Angus in full dress uniform.

"Please let me in Angus, they are going to be my daughters-in-law. It's not fair that their mothers are in there and I'm not!" She tried to argue.

"Ma'am, not all of their mothers are in there, in point of fact the only mother that is in there is Mrs. Mizuno. If you remember Michelle's mother is running late, Hotaru's mother is dead and her mother figure is trapped on Mercedes." Angus informed her.

"Exactly! That's why I need to be in there! I can give advice and tips and help out." She countered.

"Except that you're forgetting one very important fact Ma'am." Angus said calmly.

"And what fact is that?" Nodoka asked, starting to become very upset at how obstinate he was being.

"They don't want you in there. They are still upset with you, and no I don't know why they are upset, they didn't tell me." He said to her.

Before Nodoka could say anything more a woman came hurriedly up and stopped before Angus.

"Sir McRory, I am so sorry I'm late, my husband forgot to set the alarm last night." The woman stated hurriedly.

"It's okay Mrs. McKay, your daughter has been very patient and understanding about this." Angus said with a smile.

Mrs. McKay smiled back, thankful her daughter was so understanding. "May I enter please?" She asked.

"Of course Ma'am." He stated, and then knocked on the door.

The door cracked open to reveal Makoto's face. She looked out at the three people standing there. She smiled lovingly at Angus, then gave a cold glare at her adoptive mother. Nodoka shrank back then turned and left dejectedly, knowing now that there was no way she would get inside if her daughter was involved. Makoto then looked at the third person standing there and smiled lightly.

"Mrs. McKay I presume?" She asked.

"Yes, is my daughter inside?" She responded.

"Yes and in very much need of seeing you." Makoto answered as she opened the door more to allow her in.

As son as the door shut, Sara was instantly in her aunt's arms. "Auntie what do I do?! What if Ranma doesn't think I'm pretty enough? What do I have to offer him? Daddy's going to want to kill him when he finds out! How do I protect him?" She gushed out as her aunt hugged her and looked at the woman who could have been the crown princess's twin sister.

"She's been like this for the last twenty minutes mom." The real Michelle McKay told her. "And been driving us all batty with it!"

Sara spun and glared at her. "Your father doesn't hate him like mine does!" She said heatedly to her cousin.

"That's because my father isn't an insecure, pea-brained, liberal idiot!" Michelle said with a grin.

Sara purpled while a couple of others gasped. Amaia came over and put a restraining hand on Sara's shoulders and glared mildly at Michelle.

Michelle, that was uncalled for. Your cousin is just getting nervous. Please refrain from making such comments about her father again." Amaia said, her presence calming Sara down.

"Even if they are true." Makoto murmured just loud enough to be heard.

Michelle shrugged. "He and I have never seen eye to eye Amaia, and he has done nothing to earn my respect at all. Sara and I joined almost at the same time, and I remember what a battle it was for her. His hatred for all things Army has been the largest rift causing thing in the whole extended Royal Family!" She responded. "Personally, when word of what is happening this day reaches him, as well as the news of our deployment, I hope he has a heart attack. Sara, William and Aunty Natsumi deserves better!"

"Michelle Adalia McKay!" Her mother exclaimed in shock.

"No mother I won't hide my feelings about this anymore! My favorite cousin and battle sister has had to assume MY identity just to be able to be with the man she loves! She's had to hide from her family for the better part of two years! Just to protect him from her 'father', even though her mother approves whole-heartedly of their relationship!" Michelle countered hotly. "I'm tired of all this going around, and it stops today with the largest celebration of love that this Kingdom has seen since grandmother married our departed grandfather!"

Sara slumped and looked back at her aunt. "She's right Aunty. This has gone on long enough. The others have had more freedom in expressing themselves and being with Ranma than I have." She looked at her soon to be sisters. "I don't hold that against any of you, its just the way it is, and I can't wait for this to be over!"

"Well only another hour till the ceremony starts!" Makoto said cheerfully.

All of the brides squeaked and started to flurry about, much to the amusement of everyone else, as they started to get dressed and ready.

Ranma stood up by the alter, along with the head of the abbey, as various guests, who weren't of noble birth, flowed into the huge sanctuary to take their seats. Ranma smiled nervously as he watched them sit down, a lot of them in full dress uniform of either Grayson or Manticore. The Abbot watched Ranma then gently cleared his throat to get Ranma's attention. Ranma turned and looked at him.

"Son, I don't always do this, but are you sure about this? None of you are members of our Church, and this isn't required of you." The old priest said.

Ranma's nervousness disappeared and he smiled lightly. "Father, I have never been more sure of anything else in my life." He said. "This is so much more than heat of the moment and me being lucky enough to be a steadholder. I love all four of these women so much that it's a wonder I haven't exploded from how happy just being near them makes me."

The old priest smiled softly as he sensed the truth of Ranma's words. "Then I wish the blessings of the Tester, the Intercessor and the Comforter always to be upon you and your family my Steadholder."

Ranma blushed and shook a finger at the old priest. "Father, what have I told you? Just because your abbey happens to be a part of my steading, you can still call me Ranma. It helps remind me I'm only human." Ranma admonished him.

"And it is because of that and what you willingly do and have done, that I am proud to address you by your proper titles. You are worthy of those titles because you take your responsibilities seriously, unlike some of your fellow steadholders." He told Ranma.

Thank you Father that means a lot to hear that from you." Ranma responded.

The priest was about to say something more when a fanfare went up from the back of the sanctuary. A brightly dressed man in the colors of the Royal Family of Manticore stepped out of the door and pounded his staff three times on the stone floor.

"All pray rise for the arrival of Queen Natsumi McKay of Manticore, Defender of the Realm, Sovereign of four stars!" He cried as the Queen of Manticore stepped regally through the double doors and strolled down the aisle to the seat reserved for her. Behind her walked a stern-faced Lieutenant Colonel in full dress uniform, who stood behind her seat. After came a bevy of other Manticoran nobles, each one announced by the herald.

After the Manticorans had all been seated a different herald, clothed in the colors of the Protector, stepped into the sanctuary, and repeated what his Manticoran counterpart had done to gain everyone's attention.

"Pray rise for the arrival of Protector Allen Mayhew, Protector of Grayson by the Grace and Will of the Tester!" He announced as Protector Allen and his two wives entered the sanctuary and walked down the aisle to join Natsumi, each exchanging polite greetings. After that came the announcement of the enterance of no less than twenty steadholders, all allies and supporters of Ranma's, including Steadholder Honor Harrington.

After all the various nobles had seated themselves the organist started playing soft gentle music. After the music started the doors opened again at the back of the sanctuary. From them came Tenchi in full dress uniform, walking Michelle McKay, resplendent in a gown similar to what Honor was wearing, but in shades of blue with a vest of bright flame red. As they reached the alter they bowed to Ranma, then took the places reserved for the best man and the maid of honor. This caused a ripple of conversation from the Manticorans as many recognized the Queen's niece. Natsumi's eyes narrowed as her mouth twitched.

Next came Angus and Makoto, followed by Ryoga and Ayeka, then finally MuTsu and Setsuna. Each bowed to Ranma and took their places. Finally two young children, the two older of General McKay's quartet, walked down the aisle, the girl carrying a basket of flowers, while the boy solemly carried a pillow with five rings. When people saw the number of rings, another murmur sprang up, this time from both the Manticorans and the Graysons.

Then the music changed subtly and its volume dropped as the Manticoran herald called out.

"All rise for the Brides! Make welcome the beloveds of Lord Saotome! The Lady Ami Mizuno!" He called.

Ami walked slowly down the aisle, escorted by her father. Her dress simple, almost the same as the bride maid's, but in a pale blue, like ice with the sun shining through it, the only other color is the Saotome steading crest over her heart. Her father led her up to Ranma and smiled sadly at them.

"Take care of my little girl Lord Saotome. Please do a better job of making her happy than I did." He said softly.

"You have my word Lord Mizuno." Ranma said formally, causing the man to blink, as he had no titles, before he nodded and went to join his estranged wife.

The Grayson herald stepped up and announced the next one to enter. "The Lady Hotaru Tomoe!" He called and everyone's eyes turned to the entrance as Hotaru entered.

Haruka, in full dress uniform and skirt, escorted a deep purple colored Hotaru down the aisle. As they reached the end and Haruka handed Hotaru to Ranma, she gave him a wry smile.

"Welcome to the family Sir." Haruka said to him.

"Thank you First Sergeant." He replied.

Haruka leaned forward and whispered in her commander's ear. "You break my daughter's heart and I'll cut your balls off with a rusty spoon." She then leaned back, winked at Hotaru and walked to join her soldiers in the crowd.

Ranma gulped and gave Hotaru a weak smile at her raised eyebrow.

The Grayson herald then continued. "The Lady Amaia Stohler!"

When everyone looked back they saw General Genma Saotome walking a barely noticeably pregnant Amaia dressed in pure white down the aisle. Only a couple noticed the bulge about Amaia's middle, and while they kept silent, thoughts flew as to the meaning, when the pair arrived at the alter, Genma handed his son his bride with a smile.

"She's a keeper son! Your mother will be so shocked at the reception." He said with a glint in his eyes.

"Thank you for escorting her pops. And thanks for not telling mom." Ranma said to him.

Amaia leaned forward and kissed her soon to be father-in-law on the cheek, causing him to blush and a few chuckles to flow through the crowd. "Thank you for being there for me Father, and for accepting me." 

Genma waved it off, blushing, and then left to join his shocked wife, as she couldn't stop staring at Amaia.

The Manticoran herald then cleared his throat and announced. "The Crown Princess of Manticore, Princess Sara McKay!" He announced.

A great murmur sprang up from the crows and heads whipped back to see General McKay slowly walking the Crown Princess down the aisle, dressed like the other three, but in the colors of the House of McKay. The nobles of Manticore shocked to see the Crown Princess, the jewel of the King's eye, walking down the aisle to get married to one of the worst people she could marry according to the King, and nobody had known. On top of that, the King had very obviously NOT been invited, even though the Queen had.

As they reached the alter, General McKay handed his niece off to Ranma with a smile.

"Take care of my niece Ranma." He said.

"I will sir." Ranma replied.

He then left them and joined his family near the Queen. The priest then cleared his throat and looked out of the gathered crowd.

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join in holy matrimony Ranma Saotome and these four women, in accordance with the Will of the Almighty God. These children of God have been tested and have come out of the Test feeling a deep love for one another." He started. "They have agreed to be married by the Father Church, not as communicates of the Church, but out of respect for its teachings and because they all shall be stewards of the Tester's people on Grayson."

Another murmur went through the crowd, mostly from the Graysons, as none had realized why the wedding was being held here.

"Because of this, we will be doing a much abbreviated ceremony today." The priest continued, giving Ranma a light smile. "To return the respect shown to Father Church by those wonderful people, a lot of the traditional readings, and oaths have been waived by the will of the Sacristy."

The priest then turned from addressing the gathering to Ranma and his loves. "Do you, Ranma Saotome, promise to love and cherish, honor and hold, in sickness and health, good times and bad times, in times of plenty and times of famine, these four Daughters of Eve, until death parts you?" He asked Ranma.

"I do." Ranma said simply but full of feeling.

The priest looked to the four gathered women and smiled softly at them. "And do you Ami, Hotaru, Amaia and Sara, promise to love and cherish, honor and hold, in sickness and health, good times and bad times, in times of plenty and times of famine, this Son of Adam, until death parts you?" He asked them.

"We do." They said together.

"The rings?" The priest asked.

The young boy carried the pillow around and bowed low as he presented the rings to the old priest.

The old priest smiled then held a hand out over the rings. "Oh Almighty Tester, bless these rings, that they may be strong, regardless of the tests you may send. Oh Intercessor, bless these rings, that they may symbolize the bond between these five souls. Oh Comforter, bless these rings, that they may comfort the bearers during hard times." He intoned. He then looked at each of them in turn.

"Please pick up a ring." He said, and each on picked up a ring. The priest then nodded to Ranma and he turned and gently grasped Sara's hand.

"With this ring, I bind myself to you." He said lovingly as he slid the ring onto her finger.

Sara smiled softly as behind her each of the other brides said. "We too bind ourselves to you."

Ami then took Amaia's hand gently and stared deep into her eyes as she slid the ring onto her hand. "With this ring do we four wed thee Amaia." She said.

Amaia almost gasped as she felt the outpouring of love for her coming from the other three as they affirmed her marriage to all of them.

Hotaru then took Ami's hand and lovingly slid the ring onto her hand. "With this ring do we declare you as ours until the suns burn out."

Ami gasped a little as the oath was repeated, knowing Hotaru's personal meaning behind that oath.

Sara then reached out and took Hotaru's hand and caressed it as she gently slid the ring onto her finger. "With this ring, do I proclaim us wed and our Houses joined."

The others repeated the oath as Natsumi gasped, recognizing the importance of that oath, and wondering what her daughter thought she was doing.

Amaia then turned and took Ranma's hand as her three new sisters placed their hands on her shoulders. "Ranma, beloved, you took us in, opened your heart to us and showed us true joy. May the ring that we four give you today always remind you of how deeply you are loved by us, no matter how many light years may separate us." She said as she slid the ring onto his hand.

"We love you Ranma Saotome." All four said together.

The priest smiled and then looked out over the crowd. "The rings have been exchanged, the circle is complete and the vows exchanged. All has been witnessed before the Lords secular and temporal of Grayson and Manticore!" He started. "Does anyone present object to the marriage of these five souls?"

Nothing was heard for two whole minutes in the sanctuary, nor was any movement seen. The priest then took a deep breath before he spoke again. "Then by the power vested in me by the Lords both secular and temporal of both Grayson and Manticore, I pronounce you married." He declared. He then looked at the newly weds and smiled softly. "My Ladies, you may kiss your husband at your leisure."

The crowd burst into cheering as Amaia kissed Ranma deeply, then Hotaru and then Ami. Finally Sara wrapped her arms around Ranma and started to kiss him slowly and passionately. Members of the Wild Horses, of which there were several dozen, cheered and whistled at the display being put on. Ranma slowly broke the kiss and turned towards his troops with a glare building. Ryoga saw it and preempted his commander.

"Wild Horses, Attention!" He snapped and half of the men and women in uniform came to attention with a snap of heels. "Three cheers for the Colonel and his new wives! HIP HIP!"

"HAZZAH!"

"HIP HIP!"

"HAZZAH!"

"HIP HIP!"

"HAZZAH!"

Ranma sighed then shook his head and led his wives down the aisle amid the cheers of family and friends. As they left the building of the sanctuary, they saw two rows of officers and noncommissioned officers with enough space for the five to pass between in pairs. Tatewaki Kuno was at their lead and as soon as he saw Ranma he snapped to attention.

"Ceremonial Guard, Attention!" He called out and the sixty men and women came to attention. "Unsheathe Blades!" Sixty swords came out of their sheathes as the five stood there. "Present Arms!" Every member saluted with their swords. "Sword Arch, Move!" All sixty snapped their blades up and formed and archway of swords for the newly weds to pass under. As they passed through each pair of swords dropped down, blocking the path behind them before being snapped up into a salute.

Inside the great hall, where the reception was being held, people were mingling and talking. The military members milling about, mostly telling stories or talking occasionally with civilians they knew. The Manticoran nobles were conversing with their Grayson conterparts mostly. The only exception to this whole affair was the small knot that consisted of Protector Allen, Queen Natsumi, Steadholder Harrington and General McKay.

"So that was a lovely ceremony." Honor commented casually.

"Yes and very brief, which I was thankful for." Daffyd agreed.

"It certainly was an interesting mix. I greatly appreciate the blend, and I'm sure the rest of my Graysons will as well when this airs on the special broadcast shortly." Protector Allen said with a grin.

"I can't believe the nerve of her!" Queen Natsumi ranted softly to them.

"The nerve of who Your Majesty?" Honor asked curiously.

"My daughter, that's who! I hope she understands the pickle she just put me into!" She answered.

Allen and Honor looked confused while Daffyd looked thoughtful, then his eyes suddenly widened as he remembered the words she had spoken as her oath.

"The little minx! HA! Well played little soldier, well played indeed!" He chortled.

"Well played Uncle?!" Natsumi exclaimed and wheeled on him. "You heard what she said! When the House of Lords hears her oath…" She started.

"There will be nothing they can do about it, and neither can your husband. The Mizuno family is very well known in the academic and medical circles, Hotaru is the heir to the Tomoe fortune, the Saotome family is the most powerful military family the Kingdom has ever known because of Ranma! And while Amaia's family has virtually disowned her for marrying Ranma, word has it that you accepted her into your Grayson based clan correct Honor?" Daffyd cut her off.

"Yes I did My Lord, as my sister, which ties the Harrington and Saotome Steadings together by marriage." She answered.

"Thank you." He nodded to her. "That means that all little Sara did was formally unite the McKay House with what has now become most likely the third or fourth most powerful family in the entire Alliance!"

"You know that isn't going to matter to some people Uncle. In fact it won't matter one white to my 'dear' husband at all! God this is going to be a nightmare back home when it hits the news." Natsumi groaned.

"Look on the bright side Natsumi, they'll be out of the media's reach for long enough for them to hopefully forget about it." Allen said soothingly.

"That is the ONLY thing about that oath I'm happy about right now." She replied.

Before more could be said a throat was cleared behind them. When they all turned they saw the burly form of Staff Sergeant Shawn Meads standing there looking a little out of place in his formal uniform.

"Yes Sergeant Meads? What can we do for you?" Daffyd asked politely.

If it would please Your Majesty, Your Grace, My Lord, My Lady. The Groom and Brides shall be arriving shortly from pictures, if you wish to move to your seats I would be glad to escort you." He said politely though a little stiffly, as if the words or the address were alien to him.

"Of course Sergeant Meads, please lead the way." Daffyd said.

The quartet were led to the high table where the groomsmen and bridesmaids were already seated. Polite greetings were exchanged and the men pulled out the chairs for the ladies to sit down. Not long after they sat a voice rang out from the side door.

"Please welcome the Groom and Brides, Ranma, Hotaru, Ami, Amaia and Sara Saotome!" Yelled the voice of Staff Sergeant Vincent from the door.

Everyone burst into applause as they entered the room and walked up to the high table. As they reached the high table, Ranma and his brides greeted each of their special guests.

Everyone in the hall became silent as Ranma reached the Queen of Manticore, wondering how he would address her. He stopped and waited until his wives were finished and together they greeted her.

"Thank you for attending Your Majesty, we hope that the reception meets with your pleasure, our dear and beloved Mother." They said to her together.

Natsumi blinked back tears as she felt nothing but love from the five before her. "I'm sure it will be absolutely wonderful." She said softly.

They sat down at the table and looked around then Ranma picked up the mic on the table.

"Well let's not delay this party any longer. I'm sure the cooks are eager to serve the food they've made, so bring on the food!" He said.

As the party went into full swing everyone was enjoying themselves. Several toasts had been made and several stories told by the groomsmen or bridesmaids. The first dances had been done and now it had come to the important parts. Specifically the tossing of the flowers and garters.

Each bride was going to toss their flowers one after the other. The first up was Hotaru as the youngest, then Ami, then Amaia and finally Sara.

Hotaru's ended up being caught almost completely by accident by Haruka, who looked at it like it would kill her. Ami's landed in the hands of Ayeka. Amaia's ended up being nabbed at the last second by Makoto who beamed happily. Sara's somehow flew over all the grasping hands of the single ladies to land in the lap of her own mother, who had been in a quiet but intense conversation with Protector Allen's two wives and grasped them on instinct. The two women gasped as all the single ladies moaned in disappointment and Natsumi looked in shock at them.

When it came time for the single men, Ranma made a big show of taking off each lace garter before shooting it over his shoulder. The first one pulled off of Hotaru's pale thigh, landed squarely on Tenchi's head, who pulled it off and looked at it in confusion. The one pulled off of Ami hit Ryoga square between the eyes, who caught it on reflex, then sat down heavily when he saw it. Amaia's some how escaped several hands to land on the hilt of Angus's sword where hi instinctively pulled it off and winced when he heard Makoto squeal in excitement. The last one, pulled from Sara's thigh, went high into the air and came arching down into the hand of Tatewaki, whose hand closed on it without thinking, he opened his hand and his eyes widened before he smiled softly.

As people wound down and just enjoyed the party, the high table sat and talked quietly.

"Ranma, earlier this week you mentioned a surprise for me and the steadholders." Allen said casually. "Would you care to elaborate now?"

Ranma looked over at his new wives to see them all nod slowly at him. He then looked back at his Protector and gave a wry grin.

"It's a good thing that you are sitting down Your Grace." Ranma said as his grin widened and then he stood up and lightly tapped on his wine glass, using his Ki to amplify the sounds, attracting everyone in the room.

"Everyone, my wives and I would like to thank you all for attending this wonderful day. In addition to the wonderful occasion of us getting married, in the near future all of us will be deploying for the first time as a unit." The crowd gave polite applause at this news. "Now we do have one last bit of surprise news before we call it a night and take ourselves off."

"GET ON WITH IT!" Sergeant Hopkins yelled out from the back of the room. Everyone laughed at those words as the new Misses Saotome stood up with their husband and gathered around him.

"I am happy to announce that in a matter of three months, the steading of Saotome will have an heir." Ranma announce and then the five of them literally vanished from plain sight.

Everyone sat there in shock before it was broken suddenly by Nodoka.

"Grandbabies!" She cried out before she fainted against her husband.

After that everyone burst into commotion, either talking or yelling or arguing or trying to find them.

Natsumi just stared where the five of them had stood while Allen just shook his head.

"Ranma, why do you trouble your Protector so?" He asked.

Honor looked at Allen and grinned. "Maybe because he's one of those foreign people." She said to him.

Three days later found Ranma heading to Austin City, the capital of Grayson, by himself. When he arrived he ended up meeting his fellow steadholder, Honor Harrington, and smiled at her.

"Honor, you're swearing in too?" He asked as he approached her with a backpack on his back.

"Yes I am, so how are you doing it? Like this or in rare form?" She asked.

Ranma smirked and waved at his backpack. "I think it's fair to remind our fellow steadholders that things aren't going to be the same anymore." He responded before he entered a nearby bathroom.

Honor chuckled as she waited for Ranma to step out. When Ranma came out, it was as a red headed female, dressed in the same clothes as Honor aside from the colors. Where Honor's was green, Ranma's was a mixture of blue and flame red.

"Shall we go Lady Harrington?" She asked politely.

Honor grinned wickedly and nodded to her companion. "Yes let's not keep our fellows waiting Lady Saotome." She answered.

Together the tow walked down the hall to the entrance that led to the chamber where the other steadholders awaited to confirm them to their positions.

Several hours later found Ranma and Honor sitting down with Protector Allen in a comfortable sitting room within the Protector's Palace. Ranma sat there grinning at her Protector while Honor just shook her head.

"Really Ranma? First you drop the bombshell of a child on the way, then we both shock the Council of Steadholders, but now must you shock our Protector even more?" She asked with a sigh.

Ranma just signed and shrugged at Honor.

"What do you mean your pregnant wife is deploying with you Ranma?!" Protector Allen exclaimed as he stared at her.

"I mean that she refuses to be left behind, and if I tried to leave her here, she'd kill me, or even worse, figure out a way to make my life miserable from far away until I returned to her." Ranma explained slowly.

"But you can't expose a woman with child to such danger!" He countered.

Ranma sighed again and looked Allen in the eye. "Allen, listen, when she gets an idea there is almost NO gainsaying her! Believe me; I already tried convincing her that going with us would be a bad idea and everything! But she wouldn't hear of it! Hell, her sister wives are STILL trying to convince her to stay here, but its just not working!" Ranma tried to explain.

"Ranma, what reasons has she given for why she insists on going?" Honor asked, trying to help keep things calm.

Ranma looked thoughtful before she answered. "Well her biggest reason is she refuses to allow us to NOT have her support while we're out there. Then she follows it up that she'll be perfectly safe with the plan that we already developed before we found out she was pregnant. Then she used the reason that His Majesty will find out about the wedding probably tomorrow, which means a response from him could be here in as little as three days if the courier boat redlines it. She's afraid that he may try to use her and our child as leverage against me, without the Queen's knowledge, if she stays behind." Ranma answered.

"No Grayson would allow that to happen Ranma, you know that!" Allen stated. "It would be a cold day in Hell before we let him get her or your child."

"Except there is one way he could do that, and you couldn't stop him Allen." Ranma countered sadly.

"Impossible, she is the wife of a steadholder who is pregnant with an heir, she'd be perfectly safe here." Allen countered.

Ranma gave him a sad look, then looked at Honor with a sigh. "You're wrong Allen, there IS a way he could do it, and it would be a perfectly legal way to get her into his reach too." She said quietly.

Allen looked confused as he looked between Ranma and Honor, whom Ranma was still looking at. Suddenly Honor's eyes widened as she looked back at her counterpart.

"You're right that would be perfectly legal and there would be no way it could be stopped without serious repercussions." Honor said.

"What are you two talking about?" Allen asked in confusion. Both women turned to look at him, but it was Honor who answered.

"Orders Allen. If she stays behind the Army could legitimately order her to return to Manticore for reassignment, and she would have no choice but to obey. And once she is on Manticore, she's in trouble." Honor told him.

"They wouldn't do that though." Allen said. "She's assigned to the Dragoons."

"And if we leave her behind, rather than take her with us, the Army could decide that we obviously don't need her, or we wouldn't have left her, and order her elsewhere Allen. With the influence he has, it'll happen, and she'll be put within his reach. At that point she'll be taken and used against me." Ranma countered.

"I see." Allen said softly as he took it all in. "Well under those circumstances I can see much clearer as to why she has to deploy with you, but I still don't like it." He said.

"You don't like it?!" Ranma exclaimed as her mask finally cracked, tears shining in her eyes. "How do you think I feel Your Grace?!" My _WIFE_ either goes into a combat situation with me while pregnant with our child, or I leave her here and she becomes a weapon to be used against me by a man who hates me only because I'm willing to serve my country!"

Honor looked concernedly at Ranma, while Allen looked shocked, not expecting this kind of reaction. Ranma didn't see either expression as she continued to vent.

"What am I supposed to do?! It's damned if I do and damned if I don't! There is no way I can protect her from everything! The only thing I can do is take her with me and hope and pray that nothing happens to her and our baby! Anything else is almost a guaranteed death sentence, especially after her parents threw her out of her family because she was pregnant by me!" Ranma ranted as tears started to fall from her eyes.

Honor gasped and moved over to hug Ranma tightly and comfortingly while Allen tried to overcome his shock.

"Shh Ranma, you're doing the right thing. Given your options Amaia should go with you!" Honor said soothingly.

"Ranma, I'm sorry, I didn't know it was that bad." Allen said softly as he looked on. "If there is anything I can do, please let me know and I'll make it happen." He told her.

Ranma hiccupped as she calmed down, then looked embarrassedly at Honor and Allen. "I'm sorry, I should have better control than that." She said.

"Nonsense, don't worry about it Ranma. You're facing a difficult Test right now. It's a tough decision, but you decide how best to make it work." Allen countered. "Let me worry about stalling any recall orders while you do what you have to."

"Thank you Allen, that means a lot to me." Ranma said softly.

Ranma stood on the flag bridge of the HMS Nightstalker as it headed out system from Grayson. He watched the various light codes dance on the big display as the ship tracked every vessel in range of it.

As they drove out system a new ship appeared on the screen ahead of them. He checked the codes and saw it was a royal courier boat. He grimaced as he imagined what kind of message it was carrying.

A naval communications rating came up to Ranma and handed him an eat bug and mike set with a grin. "You might want to listen to this Sir." He said.

"Thank you." Ranma said politely as he put the ear bug in to listen to the message.

"All Manticoran flagged vessels, this is the Royal Courier Boat, HMS Rose, bearing an important message from the King, please acknowledge and stand by for transmission." A female voice said in his ear.

Ranma looked at the rating. "Are we responding to this message?" He asked.

"Yes Sir, it's an unfortunate requirement of the law. How we choose to respond is another matter of course." The rating answered him.

Ranma nodded politely in thanks and stood, waiting to hear what the message said. A few minutes later a memo pad was given to Ranma to read.

The first thing he read was a short message from Honor.

'Ranma, the message on the next page came from the dispatch boat. We are only acknowledging its receipt and not replying to it. I am personally disgusted with what the message contains.'

Ranma's curiosity perked up at those words, as he clicked the next button to read the message.

'To: All ship and station Commanders

From: King Samual McKay of Manticore

The one known as Ranma Saotome, Lieutenant Colonel, has violated an order from Us. We gave Lieutenant Colonel Saotome a direct Royal Order that he was not to become involved with Our daughter, the Princess Sara McKay. It has since come to Our attention that this man has not only violated that order, but escalated matters by not only marrying Our beloved daughter, but marrying three other women at the same time, giving insult to the House of McKay. This man has also forced Our beloved daughter into swearing an oath binding his House and Ours, thinking this will protect him from Our Wrath. This man is to be detained and brought to the Royal Palace for questioning and Trial. Any of his so called wives, including Our beloved daughter, are to be detained and brought to the Royal Palace to be screened to determine if Ranma Saotome has had them adjusted against their will.

This order is written by Our Hand, and effective to all commands upon receipt.

King Samual McKay'

"Why the sheer gall of that man! If I wasn't already under orders!" Ranma ranted.

"Is there something you need Sir?" The communications rating asked.

Ranma looked thoughtful then glanced at him. "Is it possible to imbed a message into a com sat or sensor drone in system with a time delay delivery?" He asked.

"Actually Sir, that's very easy to do." The rating answered.

"Excellent, prepare to record a message to be delivered to the dispatch boat four hours after we enter hyper, to be addressed to His Majesty, Her Majesty and Protector Allen." Ranma ordered.

The rating started typing then looked up at him. "Ready to record when you are Sir." He said.

Ranma looked into the video pickup as the light came on saying it was recording.

"To '_King_' Samual; I protest your blatant disregard for your daughter's free will. I resent the fact that you claim that I have adjusted the women who married me of their own free will. I abhor adjustment for such purposes and have been put on record for saying as much on multiple occasions. The oath your daughter swore was of her own choosing and creation, I had no idea about it prior to the ceremony and am willing to testify under oath and lie detection to prove my word. I protest your continued assault upon my good name and my person. When I am released from the deployment I am leaving on as I record this, I will personally come to the Royal Palace along with my wives and a host of witnesses for this so called trial that I'm sure you will attempt to ram through and attempt to make me the bad guy in. Until I come to see you Samual.

Lieutenant Colonel and Steadholder Ranma Saotome."

As the pickup died the rating looked over at him. "On the chip and ready to send Sir."

"Good, attach a copy of the King's message to ours, then go ahead and send it." Ranma ordered him.

"With pleasure Sir!" The rating replied cheerfully.

Ranma keyed in a com code and waited patiently. Suddenly Captain Harrington's face appeared on his com screen.

"Captain Harrington, thank you for sharing that message." Ranma said to her in greeting.

"You're welcome Colonel Saotome. May I ask what just was sent to a com sat near the parking orbit for that courier boat?" She asked.

"A time delayed message to be sent four hours after we enter hyper, addressed to the '_King_', Her Majesty and the Protector, bearing my response to his orders and a copy of his original message. I'm sure the Protector and the Queen will be delighted to see both." Ranma answered.

"Ranma, are you sure that was wise?" She asked, concerned for her friend.

"Honor, the man questioned my personal honor and integrity, the only other thing would have been to challenge him to a duel, which we both know I would win and in winning it would be disastrous." Ranma told her.

"That is true my friend. Well knowing you, it said you'd be coming for him after our deployment, so we've got a year or so. Though I'm curious if that boat will be sending it's cutter down thinking you left the Princess on planet." She said.

"Well it won't matter in about ten minutes, we'll enter hyper and then until the deployment is done, they're S.O.L." Ranma said.

END CHAPTER!

End chapter author's note:

Holy crap it's done! That was a lot of writing! Well I hopefully will get the next chapter out sometime soon, once the muse decides to help me write it! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, much of it was written while I was on 24 hour duty to help me stay awake.

Until next chapter!

Chapter 14

Return of the Wild Horse!

This is CptDave signing off!


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